Rogues and Rebels
by padme's sister
Summary: The long awaited sequel to 'The Ties That Bind Us'. Clones are terrorising the galaxy and the Jedi are deperately trying to stop them, but things don't always go according to plan, especially for poor Padme.
1. Trapped

**Author Note: Here we go, the sequel to 'The Ties That Bind Us'. I hope you like it. Sorry it took me so long to post, but I had a bad case of writers block for a while. I have written the first few chapters in rough though now, so even if it happens again, I can still post a few more chapters.**

**So basically this is what you need to know so far. It is a year after the final chapter of the prequel, or five years after the death of the Emperor, if you wanna measure it like that. There are now 4 Jedi Masters, Anakin, Padme, Obi-Wan and Anakin, 8 Jedi Knights, and 10 padawans. Only one Jedi knight and Yoda don't have a padawan because the Jedi knight can't be trusted yet, and Yoda is still recruiting more and doesn't have the time.**

**I think thats all you need to know. The rest is explained in the story. Enjoy! Oh and please review like you did last time, It was great to hear from so many of you, and some of your ideas really helped.**

**oOo**

_"The Republic will still not co-operate?"_

_"No sir. They say she may be valuable to them, but the price is just not worth it. It is too high."_

_"Well then lets make them a little more desperate shall we. Double the pain. Maybe her screams will bring her husband running. Then we will have two to barter with."_

Padme could hear every word as the two clones talked outside her cell. SHe sighed and shuffled further into a corner, wishing she could just curl up and die.

She had been locked up and tortured for at least a year now, after carelessly trusting her clone troops. Slowly over time, the clones had been moving away from the Republic and joining a group known as the Rogues. The rogues were a band of rogue clones that wanted to see the Emperor return to the throne of the Empire, and they would stop at nothing to ensure that happened.

The other Jedi had warned her this would happen, but she had trusted her clones never to turn against her. She treated them fairly and with more respect than any of the others got from their leaders, because she would always believe the good in people until at last she was forced to see otherwise.

"Such a trait should be a great gift, not a terrible curse," Obi-Wan would often say.

Now Padme could see that she had been wrong. Her clones, including Commander Logan, whom she had worked with before and built up a strong friendship with, had viciously turned on her one evening and locked her up in a secret building in Coruscant's under levels.

There was the sound of bolts unlocking and the door opened. Padme automatically tensed up, knowing what was coming next. And as regular as clockwork, two clones came in, dragging her to her feet and out into an adjacent room that had a cold hard table in the centre, surrounded by hundreds of menacing pieces of equipment.

She was unceremoniously thrown on it and her ankles and wrists were roughly shackled so tight that she couldn't move at all. Then she felt the familiar sting of a needle in her arm and suddenly her whole body felt like it had burst into flames.

She cried out in pain as the poison slowly worked its way through her bloodstream, causing her more pain this time than it ever had before. She writhed in agony, straining desperately against the shackles than cruelly trapped her in this nightmare.

When at last it seemed like she could take no more, she felt the welcome sting of another needle that delivered the antidote.

She began to breath easier and more evenly as the pain eased away and she couldn't help but sigh with relief when she was thrown back into her dark cell. The darkness and silence seemed to ease her pain.

Padme had no idea why they persistently tortured her. It wasn't to extract information because they hadn't demanded the answer to any questions, apart from her name and rank as a Jedi.

It seemed that the reason was to try and force the Republic to give in to the Rogue's demands. They knew that Padme was a popular and very important woman throughout the Galaxy, and so, by kidnapping and torturing her, they thought the Republic would bend over backwards to ensure her safe return.

However they hadn't bargained on Padme's courage or strength. Nor had they bargained on the Republic's stubbornness to submit to the demands of a few clones who had named themselves after Sith Lords. Padme had met Malus on several occasions and had come to the firm conclusion that she was, although more deadly, alot more lenient than the clone, if that was possible for a Sith Lord.

She knew the clones were impressed with her resilence, but she also knew that she could not last much longer either. She was only 32, but the constant torturing had badly weakened and drained the young Jedi Master and former Sith Lord. She was no longer able to stand up un-aided and spent most of her time slumped in a corner of her cell. It had become her favourite corner and even if she had been able to move, she doubted she would come out of it anyway. It was the one place that she felt safe and secure, in the shadows of the corner.

_How did it come to this? _She often wondered to herself. _I have convinced myself that the corner is a safe place when it is no safer than the rest of the cell. If I don't get out of here soon, I shall either go completely mad, or I shall die alone and afraid._

However, she refused to let the clones know how she felt and refused to let them think they were winning. During the harshest hours she would think of her family, wondering what they were doing at that very moment in time.

_Probably thinking up some dramatic but hopeless plan to rescue me, knowing Anakin. He's proabably come up with so many plans to get me out, that he's driven everyone else mad, and then when he finally decides on the best plan to use, it will all go wrong anyway and he'll have to improvise. Anakin's not very good at improvising. He's rash and careless._

Little did Padme know how right she was.


	2. The Rescue Part 1

**Author Note: This is only a short chapter, but I hope you like it. I forgot to do the Disclaimer last time, but do I really need to?**

**Oh all right!**

**Disclaimer: I unfortunately do not own Star Wars, or any of it's characters, however Serena, Tofu, Tiane, Josta, Ronteza, Barlet, Scotty, SHarivari, Lomitas, Nuebe, Napur, Malus, Logan and Johnny are all my made up characters. If they have the same name as an original Star Wars character, I appologise, because I have no idea who all these different characters are appart from the main ones!**

**Oh and I shall be marking the sections with little TIE fighters from now on! Tee hee!**

**So look out for Vader's TIE Advanced (-o-)**

**Or a TIE Bomber (-o-o-)**

**I can't do X-wings, but if anyone can, please show me and I'll add them in too! And It won't allow me to do the normal TIE fighters with the straight sides!**

**Anyways, on with the story.**

(-o-) Look!

"I have a bad feeling about this!" A clone guard said to it's partner as they stood in the lift with their prisoner, Anakin Skywalker.

Huge heavy shackles hung round his wrists and he seemed to be sedated because he swayed unsteadily on his feet. His lightsaber hung, along with two others on one of the clones belts, like trophies.

As the lift ground to a halt and the doors opened, two more guards stepped in, one with a green shoulder pad, one with a red pad. They were also going to the detention level.

"What's up with him?" Red asked, nodding at Anakin.

"We had to sedate him. He was too dangerous otherwise."

"So this is the great Anakin Skywalker? Just like Dooku said. Increase her pain and he comes running. Not such a hero now are you!" Green taunted then backed off as Anakin clenched his fists tight.

At last the lift reached the detention level and they all stepped out together. Another clone stepped up to them.

"Where are you taking him?" it asked.

"None of your business," the clone on Anakin's right said, pulling out his gun and blasting the clone. The other guard did the same and Anakin's shackles dropped to the floor as he called his saber to him. Within minutes only Anakin and his two clones were left standing.

"So uncivilised!" Obi-Wan Kenobi said, throwing his blaster down and pulling off his helmet.

"Where do you think she is?" Anakin asked his best friend.

Obi-Wan shrugged. "Serena check the computer! I'll lock the doors."

Serena, Padme's padawan learner, typed frantically on the controlboard, searching through the list of prisoners. At last she found it.

"Row 52, cell 7!" she called out.

"This way!" Anakin called, running down a row with a large 52 above it. He skidded to a halt outside cell seven, drew his saber and hacked away the bolt and hinges.

The door crashed to the ground, and then there was deathly silence.

"Do you have to be so damn noisy!" Obi-Wan exclaimed as he joined Anakin, with Serena close behind. Anakin wasn't listening, he was just eager to see his wife again. He ran inside whilst Obi-Wan and Serena waited outside.

"WHERE IS SHE?" Anakin cried in frustration, re-appearing at the door. Serena held her hands up in defence.

"The computer said she was definately supposed to be in this cell."

"Well then why isn't she?" Anakin whined, pulling out his saber and moving onto the next door, opening it in the same way. He would find Padme, even if it meant he had to tear the whole place down just to do it!


	3. The Rescue Part 2

**Author Note: Hi Guts, I know this story hasn't really started out as well as the other one, but these first few chapters are just sort of trying to explain what had happened in the gap in between. After about one or two more of these 'explaining chapters' it gets on to the real good stuff! Promise**!

(-o-)

Padme heard the loud crashes, the angry shouts and frustrated yells and wondered what on earth was going on.

_Those aren't clones! _She told herself after a familiar female voice had said "Try that one." Then there had been loud crash and another angry yell. She knew those voices, but it had been so long since she had heard them, that she had forgotten who they belonged to anymore.

She wanted to call out to them and tell them that she was in here, but then she realised that firstly, she had no energy to speak and secondly, in here could mean anywhere. She had no idea where she was either.

Her attention was suddenly drawn back to the cell door as the voices drew near.

"This time let me!" a male voice said and then the bolts clicked open.

"You see. Use the Force, not your aggression."

"Show off!" another voice retorted and then blue light flooded the cell as three glowing blades penetrated the darkness. They highlighted Padme's limp body slumped in a corner and the light was so bright that she had to shield her eyes.

"Padme?" one of the figures asked and now she remembered who those voices belonged to. Seeing them infront of her brought it all flooding back.

"Ani?" she gasped as ther figure shifted his blade so that it highlighted him. Indeed it was Ani, standing like her knight in shining black armour.

"My poor angel!" he cried, thrusting his saber into Obi-Wan's hand and rushing forwards to embrace her in a tight, protective hug.

Padme felt so relieved as she felt the warmth and love flowing through his body. She had missed him so much and never wanted to let him go again. If she had been able to, she would have cried.

"I've missed you so much," he whispered in her ear. She wanted to reply but she couldn't.

Anakin, however, understood because he put a finger gently on her lips. She could feel the warmth through the leather gloves he was wearing.

"Let's get you out of here," he whispered gently, scooping her into his arms and cradling her like she was the most fragile thing in the galaxy.

As he walked back through the door, he took his saber from Obi-Wan, de-activated it and hung it on his belt.

"Hi Obi-Wan," she managed to gasp and smile when she saw him. He smiled back at her.

"Hello Padme. Serena's here aswell. Anakin's organized quite a little rescue party."

"So I see," she replied.

(-o-)

All was quiet as they made their way back down the row of shattered doors to the main control area. This should have been a relief to the Jedi, but it wasn't.

"I sense a trap," Obi-Wan said as they waited for the elevator.

"Next move?" Anakin asked.

"Spring the trap!" Serena said with a cheeky grin.

"You catch on quick kiddo!" Anakin laughed as the elevator finally came to rest on their level.

They all stepped inside and the door closed. Then Obi-Wan pulled out his saber and cut the lock to a hatch above their heads. The hatch popped open and Anakin gently passed Padme through the gap. She pulled herself through as much as she was able to, trying to make Anakin's job easier.

Then Anakin followed her through, hoping his armour would allow his huge frame through the tiny gap. It did, so he pulled himself through and then crawled over to Padme who had propped herself up against part of the large control box ontop.

Serena prung through the gap next, as quick as a flash, like how Anakin would have done, had he not been encased in heavy armour that almost doubled his size.

And finally Obi-Wan jumped through, pulling the latch closed behind him.

They rode ontop of the lift waiting for it to finally stop. When it did, they all peered through the gaps in the grate to see that their suspicions had been confirmed. A large group of clones burst into the lift, ready to shoot it's occupants.

"They're not here sir!" One of them called and Serena had to stifle a giggle. As the clones searched for any signs of them, Obi-Wan moved two of his fingers slightly and the lift doors closed.

"What's going on!" The clones called, banging on the door, but it was too late. They were trapped. Obi-Wan nodded to Anakin, who took Padme up into his arms again and jumped, landing as nimbly as a cat on a narrow ledge about ten feet up from the top of the lift. Padme clung on to him as they balanced and watched the events down below.

"Serena was by them in seconds, trying so hard not to giggle, because any noise could alert the clones. Obi-Wan took slightly longer because he first re-opened the hatch a little and dropped something inside, before leaping up to join them on their perch.

There were several more shouts from inside the lift, then a loud bang and a blinding flash before total silence. More clones ran into the lift, aiming to climb out through the same gap to get to them, but Serena simply slashed the cable, sending the lift plummeting down below. Another loud explosion followed seconds later and then more cries from the very bottom of the lift shaft calling for all available clones to help clean up the mess.

"Right, let's go," Obi-Wan ordered and the three Jedi pulled out cables from their belts, wrapping one end tightly round the ledge. This time Serena went first, diving off the edge of the ledge and swinging through the open door where the lift used to be. There was a couple of shouts, a few blasts and then silence.

"It's clear!" she called after a moment, so Anakin swung down next with Padme hanging round his neck. When they landed safely he called for Obi-Wan and soon all four of them were safely back in the passageway.

Because all the clones had run down to the bottom of the building, they met no resistance on the way back to the stollen Republic Gunship.

(-o-o-)

Serena piloted them safely back to the hospital whilst Obi-Wan, now changed back into his Jedi robes, sat with Anakin and Padme in the back of the ship. Anakin was hugging Padme tightly as she slept peacefull in his arms, thinking of something other than the dark cell for once.


	4. Safe at last

**Author Note: Sorry it took so long, but here's the next two chapters. I haven't written any more after this, so it may be a while before I update again, but I will, I promise! Enjoy!**

(-o-)

Only a thick glass window seperated the battered, weakened body of Padme from Anakin, Serena, Obi-Wan, Luke and Leia.

Anakin was standing with Luke and Leia, one hand on their shoulders. Obi-Wan stood a little off to one side with Serena, who exhaled with relief, knowing that despite the grim atmosphere of the chamber enclosing her, the young Jedi Master was finally out of danger and in the best of mechanical hands. Anakin had specifically asked for the medical droid because it had helped him so much when he had been badly burned and barely alive after the events with the Emperor almost six years ago.

(-o-o-)

Clad only in a white bikini, Padme hung in a vertical position inside a transparent cylinder with a combination breathing mask and microphone covering her nose and mouth. The surgeon droid was attending to the woman with the skill of the finest humanoid doctors, which is why Anakin had asked for him to treat Padme and no-one else. He was aided by his medical assistant droid which looked nothing more than a metal concoction of cylinders, wires and appendages.

Gracefully, the surgeon droid worked a switch that brought thick, warm transparent fluid pouring down over his human patient. This bacta, Anakin knew, could work miracles, even with patients in such dire condition as Padme. Infact the only reason he was alive at all was because he had immediately been placed into a tank of bacta himself, and it had cured most of his injuries by itself.

(-o-)

As the bubbling slime encapsulated her body, Padme began to thrash about and rave deliriously. "No..." she moaned. "...Han...help Han...needs help...promised him..."

Anakin hadn't the slightest idea what his wife was raving on about.

"Mummy's not talking proper Daddy!" Luke whispered.

"Mummy doesn't make sense to me either," Leia added and Anakin nodded in agreement. Who or what was Han and what had she promised it?

Anakin glanced at Obi-Wan and saw that he was obviously trying to work it out. His brow was creased in concentration and he was deep in thought. Anakin gave up eventually and turned back to his wife.

Padme's body sloshed through the thick substance, the bacta's healing properties by now taking effect. For a while it seemed that Padme were trying to resist the curative flow of the transparent stuff. Then, at last, she gave up her mumbling and relaxed, succumbing to the bacta's powers.

The medical droid turned away from the human who had been entrusted to his care and angled his skull shaped head to gaze at Anakin and the others through the window.

"Lady Skywalker is responding well to the bacta," the robot announced. "She is now out of danger."

The surgeon robot's words immediately wiped away the tension that had seized the group on the other side of the window. Serena sighed again with relief and Obi-Wan nodded his head approvingly at the treatment.

When at last the fluid drained away, Anakin went into the room and gently lifted Padme out of the tank. She was dripping wet, so he wrapped her in several towels that the medical droid had just handed him. Then he felt her shivering, despite the fact that the warm liquid should have stopped her from feeling cold. He took off his heavy cloak and wrapped it round her aswell. Then the droid led him to another room where Padme was gently laid on the bed. Anakin dressed her in a beautifully laced silken gown, then the droid came back to remove the mask and let Padme breath on her own again.

By the time the mask was removed, Padme was fully awake again and a smile played on her lips when she saw Anakin.

"My hero," she grinned, taking his hand into her own. He had removed his gloves now.

"How are you?" he asked softly.

"I'm good," she replied, glad that she wasn't just trying to convince herself, like she had done so many times in the cell. She felt good now, more like her old self.

She looked around the room curiously. It was completely the opposite to her cell. The cell was dark and harsh. This room was light and soft.

The walls were a soft shade of blue, not the harsh black. The bed was a soft springing matress, not the cold floor. The pillows were soft and fluffy, not hard rocks. The floor was a soft spongey lino, not hard concrete. Her dress was soft and silky, not torn and dirty, and now Anakin's hand in hers was soft, gentle and loving, not cruel and uncaring like the clones. Even though Anakin's hand was really a mechanical one with new skin grafted over the top, the surgeons had done such a good job that if you didn't know about his arm, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between his and a real arm.

(-o-o-)

Padme felt safe now, secure, and loved. Even the sound of the busy hospital going about it's daily routine with metal clanging, doors banging, people shouting and screaming and footsteps up and down the corridoors was a comforting sound, unlike the harsh clash of heavy bolts being drawn back on her cell.

With this comforting thought in mind, she closed her eyes and allowed a calm sleep to consume her, the first decent and undisturbed sleep for over a year.

She knew that she had slept on the way to the hospital, and she had been unconscious for several hours in the bacta, but she was so tired, and the warmth and comfort of the bed was so inviting.

Anakin understood. She needed to regain her strength, and the only way to do that was to sleep. He made sure she was as comfy as possible, then he planted a tender kiss on her forehead, promising to be there when she woke up. Then he went to find Obi-Wan, who had taken the twins out to go and buy some parts for their lightsabers. Anakin wanted his children to be there too, when their mother awoke, because it would be the first time she had seen them in over a year. They needed her...and she needed them.


	5. Luke, Leia and Han

"Mummy!" Luke and Leia yelled together as they charged into the room and ran over to Padme, who was still fast asleep.

Luke vaulted onto the bed, closely followed by Leia and the two began to playfully jump about, chanting little sections of songs they knew like

"Whistle while you work

Dooku is a twerp

He is barmy

So's his army

Whistle while you work!"

There was no need to guess where they had learned that song!

Padme seemed not to have notice the twins bouncing about energetically until at last, Luke fell over backwards and elbowed her in the ribs.

She jerked awake, her eyes wide with fright that the clones had returned, but then she relaxed when she saw the two five year olds looking at her worriedly.

"Luke, Leia what did we tell you!" Obi-Wan scolded as he and Anakin arrived at the door, out of breath from chasing the twins.

"It's alright Obi-Wan," she reassured him, then she held out her arms. "Come here!" she pulled the twins into a tight hug. They wrestled furiously with each other, determined to get as close to their mother as they could.

"I've missed you so much!" she sighed, feeling their delight and happiness through the Force.

"We missed you too Mummy!" Luke said, tightening his grip round her neck. She felt like she was being choked, but this time she didn't mind because she knew that they were just pleased to see her, and she was just as pleased to see them too.

"Alright you two, mummy needs a rest," Anakin said, trying to prize the two children away from Padme.

"Dad!" Leia protested and he was strongly reminded of Padme. Obi-Wan and Padme must have seen it too because they both laughed.

"She's definately your daughter!" Anakin exclaimed after failing miserably to tear them away. He slumped down in a near-by chair after finally admitting defeat.

The twins made themselves comfortable, grinning with satisfaction that they had got one over on their father. Then Luke began to tell Padme everything that had happened over the year, with Leia occassionally butting in or correcting him. Padme was very impressed that he could remember every tiny detail of all the events that had happened, considering the fact that he was only five years old. He even remembered that the clones were now called Stormtroopers, not Clones.

(-o-o-)

He talked non-stop for hours, with Obi-Wan and Anakin failing miserably to try and get him to stop. Luke proved that he had inherited his father's stubbornness!

When at last he finally finished, poor Luke was exhausted. He'd never talked so much in one go in his whole life. Leia had dropped off to sleep a long time ago, and it seemed that Luke was not far off himself.

"Come on then Luke. Say goodnight to mummy and Master Obi-Wan. You can see them in the morning," Anakin encouraged Luke, whilst scooping Leia into his strong arms. Anakin's arms were made of metal, so he could easily crush huge rocks into dust. But when it came to children, he could also be as gentle as a lamb, cradling them protectively and never once hurting them a bit.

(-o-)

Luke reluctantly gave Padme a final hug and she kissed him on the forehead. Then he jumped down from the bed, bowed to Obi-Wan then took Anakin's huge hand and followed him out of the room.

"Do you want me to go too?" Obi-Wan asked kindly when he saw Padme stifle a yawn.

"No, I like the company. Something I haven't been too accustomed to lately."

"Are you up for questions yet?" Obi-Wan asked hopefully and Padme sighed.

"I suppose so. What did you want to know?" she sighed, sitting up a little straighter.

"Well firstly, did you mange to get the names of any of the leaders?"

"Yep. Let's see there's...Vader who's in overall command, Sidious, who's second, Malus third, Admiral Maul, Admiral Dooku, Commander Logan, Commander Cody, Commander Oddball Junior...that's it I think," she finished counting them off on her fingers.

"Original lot aren't they!" Obi-Wan said sarcastically, then he remembered something else. "Who, or what is Han?"

"Who?" Padme asked, surprised.

"Han. When you were in the bacta you kept mumbling about Han and how it must be saved,"

Padme thought for a moment. She had heard that name before, but not for a long time. Then she remembered the young boy.

"Han Solo!" she said triumphantly, proud at herself for actually remembering the name. She looked at Obi-Wan and saw that he was still lost, so she decided to explain.

"He's a young boy I had to share a cell with for the first few weeks. We talked alot. It turns out he's an orphan, and never really knew his mother. But anyway, when I got moved into the cell next to his, he would sit by the wall and chat to me like that. Then when I wasn't strong enough to answer anymore, I would just sit and listen while he told me stories of his adventures. If it wasn't for him, I might have given up long ago. He's only ten, Obi-Wan. He doesn't belong in a cell!"

Padme banged her fist on the side of the bed, frustrated that she couldn't help the young boy. Obi-Wan could see that Padme cared for the boy and he saw her maternal side very clearly now. It was obvious that this boy had become a sort of surrogate son for her, keeping her alive when there was no hope of escape.

"Why did they imprison him?" he asked curiously. The more he knew about this lad now, the easier it would be to form a plan for his rescue.

"He's a rebel."

"A rebel?"

"The rebels are a group of smugglers. They don't like the Republic because of the high taxes for improting and exporting, which is why they smuggle, but they hate the Rogues and would rather see the Republic in charge than the new Empire."

"New Empire? Padme, the Emperor is dead. You killed him remember!"

"No Obi-Wan, I killed the original of him. There are still at least a hundred clones of him waiting to be released from hibernation. Each time one dies, another will simply take over."

_You what! _Obi-Wan screamed in his head. _Oh this is not good!_

"How come they haven't already then? They've had five years to do it?" Obi-Wan was getting more and more alarmed now. The thought of a hundred deadly Emperor's running around was making him feel dizzy, and he was trying to establish whether they were real or just a rumour.

"Because the clones needed time to grow and mature. I thought the Republic knew about them?"

"It's news to us!" Obi-Wan stated in surprise.

_Unbelieveable! How can they be so blind! It's happened right under their noses! _Padme thought in disbelief, then she remembered the original topic.

"Look Obi-Wan. I made Han a promise that if I got out first, I would go back and rescue him. He made the same promise to me, and I am a woman of my word. I never break a promise. As soon as I am well enough, I'm going back for him. So either you help me, or forget we ever had this conversation." Padme finished firmly, and Obi-Wan knew she was deadly serious.

"Doesn't look like I have much choice!" he grinned and Padme relaxed, knowing that young Han would soon be safe. With that encouraging thought in mind, she said farewell to Obi-Wan who was going off to make rescue plans.

Once he had gone, she drifted off to sleep again, thinking of the sorts of things han would do when he finally gained his freedom again.


	6. Daring Rescues and nose bleeds

**Author Note: Hello people. Sorry it has taken so long to update but I had a momentary lapse of ideas, probably due to the fact that I was so engrossed in the new Harry Potter book which I have now finished. Well, here we are, the next stage and I hope it isn't too dissapointing! Again, it's kinda comical, but then after reading the end of Harry Potter, which for those of you who haven't read yet, is really kinda sad, and watching Padme die again at the cinema, (because yes I went to see episode 3- again!) I figured that I needed soem commedy, whether you lot do or not!**

**Does it actually suit the story, the small snatches of fun every now and then? Coz if it does, I have pleanty more! But if not, then not to worry! But please let me know in your reviews, which I love to hear by the way!**

**On with the story!**

(-o-)

"Where is she? Tell us!"

"I swear, I don't know."

"You lie!"

"No honestly, how can I know when I was in here. You were with me when she escaped!" Han tried to protest as he strained against the shackles holding him firmly to the table. Two clones were standing over him. One had the distictive black shoulder pad of Vader, overall commander of the rogues, whilst the other had the black and red shoulder pad of Admiral Maul. These had got to be two of the most frightening clones Han had ever had the experience of meeting.

"True, but that doesn't mean you don't know who helped her escape. You talked to her often enough did't you." Maul accused Han, tightening one of the shackles on Han's wrist and causing him to wince in pain.

"Didn't you?" he said again, more forcefully.

"I...I...YES I DID!" Han screamed as the metal seared into his flesh, drawing blood.

"There, you see. That wasn't hard was it?" Vader said in a sickly sweet voice like he was unaware of the pain and torture Han was going through. "So who helped her to escape?" he asked again in the same tone.

"I...I don't know. Please, you must believe me!" Han begged, hot tears of pain running down his cheeks.

"Must we?" Vader laughed, turning to Maul.

"Yes!" said a voice behind them and they turned to the doorway. Han lifted his head to see who had just spoken, and saw to his delight that seven Jedi were standing in the doorway, sabers ablaze. Han didn't recognize any of them, and it was with a pang of dissapointment that he noticed Padme was not amongst them.

_She must still not be well enough _he thought, and for one moment the awful though crossed his mind that perhaps she hadn't escaped, perhaps she had died. After all, she was in a bad way. But then he pushed this thought aside. How else would the Jedi know about him if it hadn't been for Padme. After all, he hadn't been in his cell when they had rescued her, because like he had told Vader and Maul, he had been there with them, being tortured for information on the rebels.

"Han Solo, you must be?" said a strange voice near his left, and peering down as much as he could, Han spotted a tiny frog-like creature standing with it's tiny green blade held in one hand.

"Yes. Who are you?" he asked, looking back around at the other Jedi who had pinned the clones against the wall.

"Master Yoda I am. Miss Padme informed me, terrible things have happened to you, have they not?"

It took a moment for Han to work out what Yoda was saying, but then he came to his senses, sitting up as a tall Jedi in black armour waved a hand over the shackles and they sprang open.

"Yes they have...where is Padme, is she alright?"

"Padme is fine. She's in the best care, I made sure of that," the Jedi who had just released him said. And then something in Han's mind clicked as he saw the dark black armour, the chest plate, the long brown hair, the intense blue eyes.

"You're Anakin Skywalker, aren't you!"

Anakin looked a little surprised that Han knew his name, but he smiled and nodded. "I suppose Padme told you about me?"

"She never stopped talking about you. She told me all about how you met, and what happened when you re-met ten years later and the many adventures you've shared..."

"Really?" Anakin was even more surprised at the fact that not once had Padme forgotten about him.

"There was one thing she wouldn't tell me though."

"Yeah, what's that?" Anakin asked as he helped Han jump down off the table. No-one else seemed to be listening because they were wrestling furriously with the two clones who were trying to call for back up. One Jedi fell on the floor, clutching a bleeding nose from a particularly vicious kick by Vader.

"What happened to you two during the Clone Wars. She said it was something truly terrible, but she wouldn't say what!"

Han was suddenly reminded of a rather funny conversation he had had with Padme a few weeks ago.

(-o-o-)

Padme had just been thrown back into her cell next to Han's one night after a particularly bad session with the clones. Han heard her slump down in the corner next to where he was sitting.

"Are you alright?" he had asked.

There was a nock on the wall. This was how Han and Padme communicated now. She was too weak to talk sometimes, so instead she would nock on the wall, once for yess, twice for no, three times for ask another question.

"So, where did we leave off last?" he asked cheerily, settling himself down and making himself comfortable.

Three knocks.

"Oh right, sorry. Forgot you can't answer. Um, oh yeah, I was about to ask you another question. Is that alright?"

One knock.

"Great, so um, you never told me what happened after you fell pregnant and Anakin had returned. Is that right?"

One knock.

"So you gonna tell me?"

Three knocks.

"Sorry! Forgot!" Han appologised, thinking how to re-word his question. "You said that something happened in the Chancellor's office between you, Anakin and the Chancellor..." Han recalled from a previous conversation where Padme had actually been able to speak.

"Something bad wasn't it?"

One knock.

"Something you hated and later regretted?"

One knock.

"To do with the Sith?"

There was a pause, then finally a quiet knock.

"So you were involved with the Sith in some way?"

One knock.

"But you hated what you were doing?"

One knock.

"And you hate yourself for doing whatever it was?"

One knock.

At last Han was getting somewhere. This was more than he'd managed to get out of her before. Perhaps the recent torture had weakened her defences.

"Can you tell me about it?"

There was no hesitation this time. Two firm knocks. Han pounded his fist on the floor in frustration. _She's not as weak as I thought then!_

"Why not?" he pressed on.

Three firm knocks.

"Will you ever tell me what happened?"

There was a long pause as though Padme were debating what to reply. Then at last she seemed to have made up her mind.

One knock, followed by a pause, then two knocks, another pause, then one knock again.

Han had no idea what that meant. He ventured a guess. "Does that mean maybe?"

One knock.

_It's better than nothing I suppose. _He thought dissapointedly.

(-o-)

"Come, we'de better go," the Jedi sporting a nose bleed said as he pinched his nose to try and stem the bleeding. Anakin nodded and the two set off down the corridoor, leaving the other Jedi to arrest the two clones.

"You sure you're ok?" Anakin asked the other Jedi as they reached the lift.

"Yup, I don't dink it's boken!" he said in a weird voice as he tried to stem the bleeding. Anakin just laughed.

"Say your name!" he said to the Jedi.

"Why?"

"Say your name!" Anakin said again, holding back a giggle.

"By dame is Obi- an enodi." the Jedi tried to say and Anakin burst out laughing. Even Han found it kind of funny.

"Well, Obi- an enodi, this is Han Solo. Bet you wished you had a name as simple as his!" Anakin teased as they stepped out of the lift and in to the waiting ship.

"ello an olo," said the Jedi, holding out his blood free hand, which Han shook politely. Then he sat down in a seat beside Anakin and wondered how best to pose the same question to her husband as he had been trying to pose to Padme at least a hundred times during the year.

However his thoughts were continually interupted by laughter as the Jedi with the nose bleed kept trying to say things like "ut up!" or "You wait, Anadin Dywalder!"


	7. Meet the family

**Author Note: Is it just me, or is this story not as popular as the other one? Well if this be the case, rest assured readers that it does get better!**

**And now...you know what I'm gonna say!**

**On with the story!**

(-o-)

"I'm so glad to see you're safe!" Padme exclaimed as Han ran through the door to her room in the hospital. It had been four days since she had been rescued and a few hours since she had found out Han had been rescued aswell. She had been packing up her things when Anakin had come to tell her the good news. Han had been taken to another room for a while so that the medical droids could look at him, so Padme had continued her packing.

Now he had appeared in her doorway and she had thrown the white gown into her bag and embraced him in a warm and motherly hug. He was so happy to see her well again that he hugged her back, equally as lovingly. At last she prized him away from her and looked him over.

He had been given a set of spare clothes that someone had found for him. They were simple clothes, consisting of a pair of dark blue trousers that needed, but didn't include a belt, (Han had tied some string round them for a moment until he could find something more belt-like), a creamy coloured shirt that, although new, was already creased, and the buttons had been ripped off so that the neck hung open almost to the middle of his chest, and a black waistcoat that had had the buttons ripped off aswell, so that it hung losely over his shoulders.

Padme had a feeling Han had done those little customizations himself because he had once told her in the cell that he hated things to be tight round his neck or chest. He liked things loose and flappy, not restricted. In a way, Padme knew how he felt.

She had no idea why, but as she looked at him now, she saw that these alterations suited him, and made him somehow look more manly. The only part that wasn't very manly was the makeshift belt he had created. But even that wasn't working, for Han kept having to hoist his trousers up so that he didn't trip over them with his newly polished, but already scuffed boots.

"I don't suppose you have any safety pins?" he asked at last, hoisting his trousers up for what seemed like the hundredth time since he had been in her company.

"I think I can do one better than safety pins," Padme smiled, rummaging in her neatly packed back. "Aha!" she said at last, pulling out a black belt that had had extra holes punched in it, for someone small.

"This was one of Luke's but he doesn't need it anymore."

She handed him the belt and he hastily undid the string and attached the belt instead, doing it up tight enough so that his trousers didn't fall down, but loose enough so that he could still breath.

"It's perfect!" he exclaimed, twirling on the spot to show her. It was only then that she noticed the bandage on his left arm.

"Where they mad at you because I left?" she asked quietly, feeling guilt flood over her. Han followed her eyeline down to his wrist and then hastily tried to hide the bandage.

"No of course not," he lied, not wanting Padme to feel that it was her fault about what the clones had done to him.

"Don't lie Han. It's my fault they hurt you and I'm truly sorry. I should have helped them rescue you," Padme bowed her head in shame, but Han stamped his foot hard, causing her to look up.

"Don't you dare blame yourself for what those scumbags did to me!" he said firmly, but not in an unkind way. "I knew you wouldn't be able to come because you were in a terrible way the last time I saw you. I thought it would take you much longer to recover...so don't you dare blame yourself for their wrong-doing!"

Padme sighed and smiled. She ruffled Han's flop of messy hair playfully and he swatted at her hands, brushing them once or twice with his own fingers and feeling the warmth and softness beneath his skin. He was amazed at how quickly she had recovered, even for a Jedi, or for someone who had been submerged in a bacta tank for hours.

He had to admit, Padme Skywalker was a truly remarkable woman.

And Padme had to admit that Han Solo was truly a remarkable ten year old!

(-o-o-)

"Mummy! Mummy! Luke broke my lightsaber! Look!" Leia ran out of her bedroom waving the two halves of the broken handle around in mid-air. She froze when she saw Padme, Anakin and Han sitting on the sofa, talking. Han and Padme were filling Anakin in on everything they had found out about the clones.

"Who are you?" Leia demanded, storming up to Han with a thuderous look on her face as though it was his fault that Luke had snapped her lightsaber.

"Darling, calm down!" Anakin tried to say, but Leia was glaring at Han with a deadly expression on her face. Han looked a little taken aback, but he straightened himself up a little and smiled at her..

"I'm Han Solo. Pleased to meet you. I take it you must be Leia?" he held out his hand politely, but Leia refused to take it.

"How do you know my name?"

"Well, you're not a boy, so I'm guessing you're not called Luke."

"How do you know my brother's name? Mummy, I don't like him!" Leia turned to Padme, but jabbed one finger back at Han, almost poking him in the eye.

"Hey, point that thing somewhere else will ya!" he exclaimed, pushing her finger aside, but she turned and gave him the most evil look he had ever seeneven for a five year old.

"Leia, be nice! He's a guest...and put your finger down, it's rude to point!" Padme said firmly, and Leia, who had until that moment been pointing at the nearby wall, slowly lowered her finger.

"I still don't like you!" she scowled at Han, who was rather shocked by her hostile behaviour. Anakin, however just laughed.

"Daddy, he knows too much about us! I don't like him!"

"Leia, you don't even know him," Padme reasoned, recognizing the same stubborness that Anakin often displayed.

"Well perhaps I don't want to either!" Leia snapped. "Who would want to be friends with a nerf-herder like him anyway?"

As soon as she said it, Leia knew she had gone too far, for the normally calm Padme narrowed her eyes until they were barely more than a couple of slits. Even Anakin looked a little frightened.

"Go to your room and think about what you have done!" she said in a quiet voice, and Leia ran, knowing that when her mother was like this, there was no point in arguing.

"I am so sorry about her," Padme appologised, taking a deep breath and settling back into the chair again.

"Not to worry. I can see where she gets her spirit though!" Han teased and Padme smiled. Anakin seemed to relax too and they continued on with their conversation, or at least tried to, for they had got no further than a couple of words when there was a shout from the twins room.

"LUKE, LET GO OF MY SABER, YOU'VE ALREADY BROKEN IT ONCE!"

"WILL YOU TWO PACK IT IN!" Anakin bellowed and there was silence, then the sound of a scuffle coming from the room and a pillow flew out, narrowly missing Han, who just managed to duck in time.

"MISSED ME!" Luke yelled and Anakin stood up, clenching his fists.

"Be nice!" Padme warned, but Anakin was past the stage of being nice. This was the fifth time the twins had been fighting that day and he had had enough. Storming into their room, he dragged them apart and hung Luke from by the collar of his white tunic to one coat hook and Leia from the collar of her tan tunic to another, causing them to dangle three feet above the ground.

No matter how hard they tried they couldn't get to each other, or get down, so until they appologised they would be stuck up there. And seeing as though neither of them were anywhere near the appologising stage yet, Anakin left the room and re-joined his wife on the couch, leaving the twins dangling on their hooks and blaming each other.


	8. Angry kids, onions and Temple Attacks

**Author note: SUCCESS! I have found a picture of Lady Malus! If you want to see it, then just send a review with your e-mail address and I can e-mail you with mywebsiteaddress. I would say it in here, but because I am only using word pad, it won't let me put in funny lil symbols! Stupid thing! Anyways, you will find a link that says 'The Ties that Bind Us', click it and then you should be asked whether you want to read the story, or view the gallery. Needless to say, she is in the gallery part, along with Lord Vader, Anakin and Obi-Wan, the Chancellor, Commander Cody, Commander Logan and hopefully many more characters, when I have the time to add more!**

**I found the pic accidentally when I was looking for pics of Padme for another part of the website, and before you ask, I can't remember where I found it now! Oh well! LOL!**

(-o-)

"I warned you not to underestimate the Jedi! You should have killed her when you had the chance! Now they know our secret!" The new Emperor growled. He may only be a clone of the former Sith Lord, but he was just as scary and Malus, Dooku, Sidious, Logan and Cody shrank away in fear. They were the only remaining ranking clones, seeing as Vader and Maul had been arrested by the Jedi. The attack had greatly reduced the number of Rogues left, leaving the building a smouldering wreck.

"How are we supposed to carry on with two of our leaders gone and our troops reduced to 50,000?" Malus inquired and Logan, who was standing behind him, thought that he had been named well, for that was just the sort of remark Lady Malus would have said.

Logan bowed his head, suddenly feeling guilty for turning on his mistress like that. She had trusted him and he had let her down.

_Well, we belong to the Republic, not the Jedi, and our orders were to exterminate them. She saved her own skin by helping us, then turned against us when the danger had passed. She is the traitor. _He managed to talk himself out of feeling guilty and looked back up intime to see the Emperor stand. He bowed low, along with all the other clones and waited ntil he had left the room before standing up straight again.

"So what do we do now?" Cody wondered and the other's shrugged.

"Well, Sidious should be incharge seeing as he was second in command," Malus suggested, but Sidious shook his head.

"Please don't call me that anymore."

"What?"

"Sidiuos. I don't want to be called that anymore."

"Why not?"

"Well, he's called Sidious isn't he. We can't have two Sidious' running around."

The other clones saw his point. "So what shall we call you?" Cody asked.

"I kinda like the name Jango, you know, after the bounty hunter we were cloned after."

"Jango?...Yeah I suppose," Dooku said, cocking his head to one side and staring at Sidious through the lens of his helmet. "You do look like him."

Sidious...or Jango now, bit back a snappy comment and looking around saw that the others were doing the same. Dooku must have been dropped on his head when he was released from the cloning pod.

(-o-)

"DAD CAN WE COME DOWN NOW?" a voice called from the twins bedroom.

It was a few hours later and Anakin had completely forgotten about the twins because in his struggle to get down, Luke had managed to kick the door closed and no-one had heard a peep out of them since. Han, who was staying with them for the time being, had gone to look around the rest of the apartment, leaving Padme and Anakin alone in the living room.

Anakin glanced at Padme and saw that she had rasied her eyebrows at him.

"Anakin Skywalker, did you hang your children on the coat hooks again?" She asked in a tone that Anakin had heard many times before when he was in trouble.

"No!" he lied quickly, but she didn't look convinced. Sitting back and folding her arms she raised her eyebrows at him.

"Really? Then why are they asking if they can _'get down' _now?"

"I dunno. I'll go and see," Anakin said, hurrying towards their room before Padme could say another word on the matter.

Luke and Leia appeared a moment later looking thouroughly fed up, adjusting their collars and mumbling under their breath. Padme smiled at Anakin in a 'you'll pay for that later' kind of way, then got up to make dinner. Anakin slumped back on the couch and switched on the holo-tv as Han came back from his exploring. He spotted Leia over in one corner trying to fix her saber with the new part Anakin had given her in order to keep her from blabbing to Padme about what he had done.

Han decided that she was still not approachable at this time, so he made a bee-line for the kitchen instead.

"Can I help with anything?" he offered and Padme looked up from the chopping board.

"Not unless you can peel onions without crying. That's the one thing I can't do. Anakin always has to do it, but I'm not in the mood to honour him with the pleasure of being able to do something that I can't," she said, stabbing the piece of chicken a little too hard and getting the knife stuck in the chopping board.

"I can try?" Han offered, and when at last Padme nodded, he took the onions over to another chopping board, took a knife from the block and began to cut. He had never cut onions before, but Padme had already attempted to do one, so he saw how she wanted them cut.

Everything was going fine until Han's eye became a little itchy. He rubbed it and carried on, then howled in pain, slapping his hands over his eyes. Tears streamed down his face and when Padme saw what had happened, she gave him a sympathetic smile, handing him a wet dishcloth that he slapped on his eyes and sighed with relief.

However, just as he removed the cloth to reveal his red and puffy eyes, a bleeper sounded in the front room. Padme and Han stuck their head round the door to see who was calling as Anakin answered it.

"Master Skywalker! Hurry!... The Temple is being attacked!... Hundreds of clones!..." Serena gasped and Padme saw her hologram bend over and try to catch her breath. Her robes had been ripped in several places suggesting she had been in a violent struggle with someone.

"We'll be right there!" Anakin said, jumping to his feet. Padme ran into the front room and pulled on her robe aswell as Luke and Leia looked up from what they were doing.

"Han, stay here and take care of the kids, please?" Padme asked him and he knew from the urgent tone of her voice not to argue.

"But Mum, we want to come with you. We are jedi after all!" Luke protested. Padme knew that refusing to let him come would break his heart, but he was only a child.

"I'm sorry Luke. How can Leia fight anyway when you broke her lightsaber?" she said softly and Luke scowled.

"I didn't break it on purpose, she wouldn't let me use it."

"Well you have your own, why would you want to use hers?" Anakin asked as Padme fastened her belt tighter and made for the door.

"We want to come!" Luke shouted and Padme turned to look at Anakin.

"I'm not happy about his life being in danger!" she insisted but Anakin raised his eyebrows at her.

"He's a Jedi Padme. He'll have to fight someday, you can't keep him locked up forever."

"But what about Leia?"

"I'll stay here mummy. I don't trust him to stay alone in our house!" she piped up, jamming the two halves of her saber back together again.

Padme opened her mouth to protest, saw the look on Luke's face, realised there wasn't much time left and sighed.

"He's your padawan!" she said to Anakin and Anakin nodded to Luke who punched the air in excitement and followed them out of the door, grinning madly at the fact that he was finally going on a mission with his Dad.

As the door closed, Han turned to Leia.

"I guess it's just you and me then kid!" he sighed, slumping down on the sofa and switching on the tv, something he hadn't been able to do in a long time.

"Panda!" she mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" Leia said innocently, not making eye contact with him. Han shrugged and went back to watching the news which was all about the temple.

Leia glared at him for a moment, then carried on mending her saber, determined to join in the fight as soon as it was fixed.


	9. Luke's first kill

Author Note: Sorry this one took so long to add, but I hope it was worth the wait. Little Luke is about to get his first experience of killing, and his first kill is a rather shocking one, especially for a five year old!

(-o-)

The three Jedi arrived at the temple a few minutes later thanks to the fact that Padme had managed to convince a taxi driver to lend them his air taxi, which Anakin had skillfully piloted through the centre of the busy rush hour.

Luke was the first to jump out, drawing his saber and looking up at the flames erupting from the top of the temple. Then he heard shouts and had to dive out of the way as several blasts came his way. However Padme was there in seconds to deflect each and every one back at the clones.

Luke was amazed at the fact that his mother was still able to fight despite the fact that she had only come out of hospital earlier that day. But then a grin spread across his face as Anakin lept down beside her and the two fought their way forwards towards the clones who were retreating back into the temple. Luke followed close behind his parents, occasiaonally knocking aside a blast that one of them had missed. He was slowly building up his confidence with the saber and was now getting better and better at blocking the bullets rather than having to dive out of the way.

They reached the top steps and found Yoda and Obi-Wan expertly taking care of the small group whom they had just been chasing.

"How bad is it?" Anakin called to Obi-Wan who looked up as he pulled his blade out of the chest of a clone at his feet.

"Terrible! Worse than last time!"

"Oh god!" Padme exclaimed, slapping one hand over her mouth as she saw what Obi-Wan meant. Clones were everywhere and the Jedi were having trouble even just defending themselves. Without waiting to be told twice, Anakin and Padme charged on in, ignoring Obi-Wan's warnings. Luke so desperately wanted to follow them, but a Clone had grabbed him round the neck and he had to fight it off.

"Luke stay here! It's too dangerous in there!" Obi-Wan warned him and Luke, although desperate to stay with his parents, couldn't disobey a Jedi Master, so he stayed outside and Obi-Wan helped him destroy the remaining clones on the steps.

"Get that one!" Obi-Wan encouraged him, pointing to a clone who was just getting back up, one arm missing. Luke swung his tiny blade, hoping to cut the clone across the chest. Instead he swung a little too high and the clone's head bounced back down the steps.

At first Luke looked horrified, but then he grinned at the fact that he had just killed his first person. Swinging his blade again he cut off another clone's arm and then his leg.

Then Luke decided to experiment and thrust his hand forwards. A burst of force rushed from it and threw Luke backwards into Obi-Wan. The clone, however wasn't so lucky and went bouncing back down the stairs after the other one's head.

"Good job!" Obi-Wan congratulated and Luke beamed with delight. His parents would be so proud!

(-o-o-)

Inside the temple, Padme and Anakin had made good progress, working as a team to drive the clones away from the surviving Jedi, allowing the Jedi to recover and join them. Their blue blades worked in unison, creating a deadly laser wall that the other Jedi were able to hide behind. It became perfectly clear to the knights and padawans now why these two were Jedi Masters. They were skilled, talented and experienced.

"Remind you of anything?" Anakin grinned as the group made their way down a smokey corridoor, Anakin looking with the Force for any clones waiting to ambush them.

"Don't remind me!" Padme hissed and it was clear that she was trying hard not to be reminded of that terrible time five years ago when it had been her and Anakin ganging up on the Jedi. She was obviously deeply ashamed of what she had done and the sooner she forgot about it, the better.

"Look out!" Anakin suddenly called and they dived apart as a missile launched down the corridor, leaving a cloud of smoke behind it. There was a huge explosion and part of the roof collapsed. Then there was silence for a few seconds before Anakin shook the rubble off himself and stood back up, coughing and choking in the smoke.

"Is everyone alright?" he called out.

"Yeah, I think so," Padme said, staggering beside him. She had a small cut on her head that was dripping blood into her collar, but it was nothing major. Anakin used the force to see in the smoke and saw the other Jedi pulling themselves out of the rubble and dusting themselves down. No-one looked seriously hurt.

"Come here," Padme said, pulling him towards her and wiping blood from his eye with her sleeve.

"Thanks," he muttered, then he pulled out his saber again. "Let's go!" he called to the group, so they set off again down the corridor.

It wasn't long before they had reached the cause of the collapse. Two clones were re-loading a huge cannon type gun with a rather large rocket. They saw the group coming and panicked, jamming it in further and further.

"I have a bad feeling about this!" Padme cried, sensing what might happen next.

"On the floor!" Anakin bellowed and everyone dived on the floor, covering their heads with their arms as the cannon exploded, throwing the clones away and bursting through the nearby walls. Anakin looked up to see huge chunks of ceiling falling all about them and knew they had to move.

"Everyone move, NOW!" he yelled, but the group didn't need telling twice. They dived through every available door, running down ever available tunnel to escape the collapse. Any clones they met knew what was happening and ran with them, not even bothering to try and put up a fight.

Anakin and Padme found that they were running amongst the middle of a pack of clone troopers.

"Oh this can't be good!" he muttered to her and she nodded in agreement, then stumbled and disappeared under the feet of several troopers.

"GET OFF HER! GET OFF HER!" Anakin screamed at them, rushing back and scoooping Padme into his powerful arms. She was still conscious and perfectly capable of running, but there was no time to much around now, so she just clung on round his neck as his long mechanical legs carried them to safety.

(-o-)

The remaining survivors flooded out of the front doors of the temple, fleeing down the steps. Luke and Obi-Wan stood to one side watching anxiously for any signs of Anakin or Padme. The roof began to collapse and still no sign of them.

"Where are they!" Luke cried. Obi-Wan couldn't answer because he was concentrating so hard on trying to find them through the force. Luke closed his eyes and tried to copy, although he hadn't a clue how to use the force for anything other than pushing clones down stairs.

"I don't know Luke," he said at last.

"Already come out, perhaps they have?" Yoda suggested, hobbling over, shielding his eyes from the dust.

"We would have seen them," Obi-Wan pointed out.

The temple gave a violent jerk, knocking the three of them to the ground, then it caved in completely, belching out a huge dust could that engulfed all onlookers and spread through the city.

Luke covered his mouth with his sleeve, coughing and choking, then he felt someone pull him up by his collar. Standing up again, he found that the dust was clearing. Then he realised it was Obi-Wan who had pulled him up.

"Look!" Yoda said, pointing one long claw at the debris of the temple. Luke looked hard, straining his eyes, and sure enough he saw a dark mass moving towards them. It was getting closer and closer and still he couldn't work out what it was.

And then the figure broke through the dust cloud and Luke saw that it was his father, carrying Padme towards them. As he got nearer he set Padme down on her feet and they walked hand in hand towards the crowd.

"Mummy! Daddy!" Luke cried with joy, tugging away from Obi-Wan's grip and dashing towards them.

"Hey big man!" Anakin said, scooping him up in his arms, whilst Padme went over to Obi-Wan. She smiled, brushing her sides down and sending huge clouds of dust towards him.

"Sorry," she appologised when she realised what she was doing, but Obi-Wan laughed at the fact that she looked like a ghost. The dust had turned her almost pure white and only the congealed mess of dried blood, dust and sweat on her forehead gave her any colour.

"You like making big entrances don't you! Getting everyone worried sick and then waltzing out asif nothing had happened!" Obi-Wan laughed, stepping back out of the dust cloud.

"Anakin's idea! You know how he watches far too many films on tv!" Padme laughed in response.

"Let's get you two cleaned up!" he smiled,seeing that Anakin wasn't much better than Padme.

_Typical Anakin, always has to copy everyone else! _Obi-Wan thought, silently grinning to himself. In truth he was glad that they were both safe.


	10. The Vision

Author note: Hi guys! I'm really sorry I took so long to write this but I have been so busy recently. However, I have submitted the next two chapters for you to kind of make up for it. I hope they are worth it.

Enjoy!

(-o-)

Luke was eagerly pointing out the bodies of the clones he had killed to Padme as he charged along, holding her hand.

Anakin was walking a little way behind with Obi-Wan and Yoda who was riding on his armoured shoulder. Every now and then, Luke would point out another body and Padme would say "Good Job!" or "Well Done!" or "Keep that up and you'll soon rival your father as a swordsman!" Then Luke would puff out his chest with pride and Anakin would laugh at his son's antics.

"So where's Leia?" Obi-Wan asked at last, noticing his padawan was no-where to be seen.

"Luke broke her lightsaber, so she's at home trying to fix it," Anakin sighed. Leia may have his temper and his attitude, but she certainly didn't have his mechanical skills. Obi-Wan sensed his thoughts and patted his free shoulder lightly.

"She'll learn eventually. Padme did."

This was true. Padme had never been very good at fixing anything mechanical before, but now thanks to her patience and Yoda's guidance, she could build a lightsaber with her eyes closed.

As he watched the two of them up ahead now, he felt so happy and proud of them. If he were to lose any of his family again, he was sure it would detroy him.

"Neat job, your padawan did," Yoda observed, looking down at one of the clones. Anakin wondered how Yoda could tell,seeing as he was riding over two meters above the body.

"Take a look, may I?" the little green Master asked anakin's ear, so Anakin knelt down, hearing the mechanisms in his knees working.

Yoda hopped off his shoulder and hobled over to the body, rolling it over with his stick. Anakin reached out a gloved hand to trace the marking on his chest plate, but as soon as his finger connected with the white metal, everything went dark.

_Then a figure advanced towards him out of the darkness, a blue saber held firmly in their hand. At first, Anakin couldn't believe it. He was seeing himself!_

_Then as the other Anakin got nearer, he transformed slightly into what Anakin guessed was a grown up Luke. Luke came to a halt infront of his father and beckoned for him to follow. Anakin did, stooping low to get through a doorway. _

_They came out onto a desert and Anakin knew, from the twin suns, that they must be on Tatooine. Then the colours completely distorted his image and he felt dizzy. He fell to the floor and watched as a blurred Luke came back towards him, raising his saber above his head and laughing cruelly. The saber plunged through Anakin's heart..._and he jerked awake.

"Dad? Dad? Dad? Dad?" Luke was kneeling beside Anakin and each time he said his father's name, he poked him in the chest.

"Get off!" Anakin groaned, pulling himself up. It was only then that he realised he was lying on the ground and Yoda, Obi-Wan and Padme were also looking down at him worriedly.

"What happened?" Obi-Wan asked, holding out a hand to pull him up. Luke, convinced that his father was alright now, grabbed Padme's hand and carried on dragging her back to the air taxi. However, she kept glancing over her shoulder every few minutes, clearly worried about what had just happened.

Anakin kneeled again, allowing Yoda to hop back on his shoulder. As he waited, he ran one hand through his long hair and found that he was dripping with sweat which was now mixing with the dust to create a kind of sticky mess in his hair.

"I...I had a vision," he admitted finally as he stood back up. "About Luke. He...he killed me...on Tatooine."

"Good, this is not," Yoda commented as they began walking again, the little green Master swaying slightly on Anakin's broad shoulder.

Anakin nodded in agreement and Obi-Wan stroked his beard thoughtfully.

(-o-o-)

They arrived back at the taxi to find Luke staring up at the busy traffic above, obviously trying to spot people he knew, whilst Padme was pacing up and down outside, knitting her fingers together anxiously and twiddling her thumbs.

When she saw Anakin, she ran over to him.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I'll tell you later," Anakin promised, well aware that Luke was secretly listening whilst pretending to watch the traffic.

They all climbed back into the taxi without another word and set off back to the appartment where Han and Leia were no doubt tearing each other apart.


	11. Thirteen Years Later

Author note: Hey guys, sorry for the major jump in time, but it was necessary because other wise the story would waffle on for way too long and I'm fully aware that people may be losing interest, so I have skipped to the beginning of the best part. But don't worry, I have written a short paragraph at the beginning that basically sums up the last thirteen years. Enjoy!

(-o-)

Thirteen years have passed since Anakin's first vision.

The clone numbers were greatly reduced during the temple attack and the few remaining clones have fled to an unknown place with the new Emperor to re-build their army.

Although the Jedi have endlessly hunted throughout the galaxy, they can find no trace of the clones.

Luke, although only eighteen, has become a Jedi Knight because his skills were so advanced that the Jedi council (who now have two more Masters, Sharivari Unlet and Lomitas Lapur) decided that it was the right thing to do.

Leia is still a padawan because Obi-Wan being Obi-Wan felt that she is too unpredictable like her father was. This has, of course, made Leia jealous of her brother and she has become reckless. The fact that Han has taken to shadowing her and doing everything he can to wind her up, doesn't help either.

Only Padme seems to have any control over Leia, so when Padme goes away, you can guarantee that there will usually be big trouble between Han, Anakin and Leia.

(-o-o-)

Anakin lay in bed late one morning watching the sun's rays as it rose higher into the sky.

Padme had gone earlier that morning to Naboo at the request of the new King, King Borelias. As usual, Luke had gone with her, like he always did, no doubt to get to know the locals.

He had grown into what everyone called a perfect young gentleman. He had his father's looks, but his mother's personality and gentle nature, making him popular and able to get on well with everyone. Naboo was his favourite planet because he found its beauty and tranquility so inspiring.

Anakin's thought on his son were disturbed by shouting coming from the living room. Han and Leia were arguing again.

Stretching and yawning, Anakin climbed out of bed and pulled on a baggy shirt. He rarely wore his suit in the appartment because the appartment had been preassurised. However, Anakin always took care to cover his chest because, after all, you could never tell when someone might call round and seeing those tubes sticking out of his chest and nasty scars criss crossing everywhere would not be a pleasant thing to be greated with.

_Actually, I think Padme's the only one who's ever seen my scars and that's only because we share a bed._

He rolled up one leg of the trousers he had been wearing to study his knee. Some of the wires had disconnected, he could feel it. His legs were the only mechanical parts of his body that had been left skinless because they seemed to need constant repair. He soon located the problem and saw that his suspicions were correct.

Stretching again and walking into the living room he found that Leia and Han had had a pillow fight. The room now looked like it had been hit by a snowstorm.

R2-D2 was frantically scurrying round trying to suck up all the feathers with a little vacuum tube that extended from his domed head.

C-3PO tottered in from another room holding what looked like one of Leia's curtains that had been torn down.

"Oh Master Anakin, we had hoped to get this cleaned up before you got up," the golden droid appologised but Anakin held up a hand to stop him.

"It's alright Threepio. I'll help. Can you go and find my maintenance kit for me?" Anakin asked, bending down to scoop up a load of breakfast cereal from under the sofa. Han and Leia had obviously had more than just a pillow fight.

_Leia's eighteen and Han's twenty three! Surely they should know better!_ Anakin thought in amusement, thinking back to all the fun times he and Padme used to have when they were on Naboo. _And I notice neither one stayed long enough to help clear up either!_

"What's this? he muttered to himself as he pulled out a scrap of paper. Unfolding it he saw the darm mark.

"..._you're breaking my heart. You're going down a path I can't follow!..." Padme's voice echoed into the darkness and then there she was, standing just as she had eighteen years ago on Mustafar, looking at someone who had their back turned to her. It looked familiarly like Anakin again._

_"I love you," she pleaded and slowly the figure turned round. Anakin gasped as he realised it was not him, it was Luke. He had the same evil yellow eyes that had once consumed Anakin._

_"You're my son, don't do this, please!" Padme cried, looking at Anakin for support._

_"You're both liars!" Luke screamed, raising a hand and closing it into a fist. "You came here to destroy me!" he cried as Anakin and Padme both felt themselves choking. Then everything went dark..._

And Anakin jerked back to reality to find himself flat on the floor with C-3PO bending over him.

If his metal face could have shown emotion, Anakin was sure that at that moment in time it would have been showing a mixture of curiosity and fear.

"My word! Are you alright sir?" he asked and Anakin nodded, getting back to his feet.

This was the first time in a long time that he had had another vision. He only seemed to get them when he touched the dark mark, which he tried not to do if he could help it. However, he wasn't as worried as he thought he might have been.

_No doubt it's some kind of Sith trick to fool me into making the wrong choice again, like my dreams about Padme and my mother, h_e would tell himself. Yoda and the rest of the council didn't seem that worried, so why should he?

"Threepio, did you get my maintenance kit?" he asked the droid, changing the subject.

"No sir, but I think Master Han was fixing his pistol with it. Shall I go and look?" C-3PO asked brightly, convinced that Anakin was fine at last.

Anakin nodded before kneeling back down to scoop up more feathers.

Threepio tottered off into another room and R2-D2 went to empty himself of the feathers he had collected.


	12. Padme returns

Author Note: This is another chapter with a bit of humour in it. Hope you like it because soon there won't be anything happy about my chapters because everything will once again turn dark and evil - ha ha ha! (Not really an evil laugh, but hey!)

So enjoy! And Review as always, I love them and you guys for such great reviews. Thanx and keep em coming!

(-o-o-)

"Han stop it!"

"Stop what?"

"Following me!"

"Don't flatter yourself sweetheart!"

"God, you are so annoying!"

"I know!"

"Push off laser brains!"

"Will you two cut it out!" Anakin groaned, massaging his temples. He could feel a major headache coming on, which was the last thing he needed considering Padme was due home later that day and once again the appartment was a tip.

She would not be pleased!

"Dad, tell Han to leave me alone!" Leia moaned, pointing an accusing finger at Han who was staring at her as if to say 'what did I do?'

Anakin sighed and waved a hand at them, as though shooing them away.

"Go tidy your rooms before Padme gets back."

"But Dad!" Leia groaned, brushing some hair out of her face.

"No buts Leia! This place is a tip!"

"God!" Leia cried angrily, kicking a cushion which smacked Artoo on the head. He gave an angry beep, but Leia ignored him and stormed out of the room, he vibrant red hair flying behind her.

She may look very much like a teenage Padme, but Leia was completely different than her mother. For a start she had bright red hair rather than the deep chocolate, and she also had an attitude problem, unlike Padme.

Anakin sighed and looked at Han who shrugged.

"Sorry," he mumbled as he went to tidy his and Luke's room.

They had been sharing a room for the last thirteen years and despite the age difference, both guys got on well and didn't seem to mind having to share a room. They would often talk long into the night about weapons, pod-racers, ships, speeders and anything else they both shared an interest in.

"I swear, someday that girl is going to be the death of me!" Anakin groaned and Artoo beeped sympathetically.

Just then the door chime alerted Anakin to a visitor. Using the Force to see who it was, he saw Scotty Lars and Dak Ronson standing at the door, waiting patiently.

The two Jedi knights often called round when they needed advice because Scotty was Anakin's nephew (Owen and Anakin had agreed long ago to call each other brothers, not step-brothers) and Dak was a huge fan of Anakin and a very good friend of Luke's.

Walking over to the door, he greeted them and Dak shook his hand enthusiastically. Scotty just nodded a hello, then hugged his uncle once Dak was out of the way.

Anakin invited them in and they sat on the couch. Anakin sat on the couch opposite and waited to hear what was up this time.

"Master Skywalker, we've come to ask your advice about our sword techniques because we're afraid that we are losing the talent and just wondered if you could give us any advice?" Scotty revealed and Anakin sat up straighter, listening intently.

"Yeah, we know that you, Mistress Skywalker and Master Yoda are the best swords men and women we know," Dak added and Anakin smiled.

Then he thought for a moment before saying "Be at the training rooms at the temple in half and hour and I'll see what I can do."

They both nodded eagerly and thanked him as he showed them out. When they had gone, Leia emerged from her bedroom scowling.

"Who was that?" she asked suspiciously.

"Just Dak and Scotty,"

"Again!"

"They just needed my help,"

"Well so do I, but you never help me!"

"Don't start this agian Leia. You know why!" Anakin sighed.

"But Obi-Wan just holds me back. He's jealous of my ability!" she complained, slumping on the sofa and switching on the holo-tv.

It was only because he was suddenly reminded of himself that Anakin held back his snappy comment.

Instead he decided to ignore her and went to get ready to meet the two knights at the temple.

(-o-)

Anakin walked through the door of training room seven, half an hour later to find that Padme's former padawan had joined them.

"I didn't know you would be joining us Serena?" he said, removing his cloak and hanging it with the others.

"Yeah, I was hoping Padme might be here too so that we could see how it should be done...you know, watch a proper fight between two of the best swords people we know?"

Dak and Scotty nodded in agreement and Anakin laughed.

"I'm sorry Serena, but Padme's away on Naboo again. She won't be back till later."

"Says who?" a voice said from the doorway and turning round he saw Padme leaning against the frame, grinning.

"Thank god your back!" Anakin cried, hugging her tightly. "Leia's been driving me mad!"

"It's been that bad, huh?" Padme asked, prizing herself away from Anakin's strong grip.

"You have no idea!"

"Well, I've sent Luke home with our bags so no doubt I'll find out soon enough," Padme smiled, pulling off her cloak and handing it to Serena who hung it up eagerly.

"So will we get to see you fight?" Dak asked excitedly and Anakin and Padme looked at each other.

"If you're sure it'll help you with your techniques?" Anakin asked and the three of them nodded.

So Anakin went to a store cupboard and brought out two training sabers that were specially designed for training combats because if they hit someone, rather than cutting off limbs and burning them badly, the training sabers just gave them a jolt of energy that hurt for a few seconds before numbing the limb for a few hours.

He chucked one to Padme who flicked it on and looked at the green blade in disgust.

"What's up?" Anakin asked, switching on his blue one.

"You know I hate green!"

"Fine, here!" Anakin sighed, throwing her the blue one. She chucked him the green one and then they both stepped into the red circle painted on the floor. Igniting their sabers and standing in their chosen stances, they waited for the other to make a move.

Then without warning Anakin leapt over Padme but with one easy flick she caught his leg and he fell on the floor.

"Damn it! You always do that!" he cried, wincing as his leg numbed and he couldn't feel it.

"I see what Obi-Wan meant about you being a slow learner!" Padme laughed, holding out a hand to help him up.

Anakin wobbled unsteadily on his numb leg for a moment then he attacked with a series of hard strokes aimed at Padme's sides. She blocked each one effotlessly and dropped to the floor as he swung the blade over her head. Then, whilst she was still kneeling down, she stabbed his other leg with the tip of her blade and Anakin crashed to the floor. His mechanical legs were unaffected by the sabers, but Padme had got him on both thighs so he was wobbling all over the place.

"God you are good!" he moaned as she pulled him back to his feet and he held onto a nearby table for support. Then, still holding the table with one hand, he tried again.

Again Padme easily dodged everything and then brought her blade down on his outstretched hand that was holding onto the table. Anakin was forced to leg go and once again his legs gave way.

"No fair!" he cried. They both looked over to the corner to see Serena, Dak and Scotty rolling about on the floor, howling with laughter.

"Oh come on you big baby!" Padme exclaimed, hauling Anakin back to his feet. He tried once more and again she easily blocked him, catching his other arm, just above the mechanical hand and causing him to let go of the saber, which she caught and used to take out both his shoulders.

"Oh man!" Anakin exclaimed as he crumpled to the floor and another burst of laughter errupted from the corner. "Enough!" Anakin surrendered and Padme smiled. This was the first time she had actually beaten her husband in a duel, so something must really be up with him. Usually it was him carrying her into the appartment because she was too numb to move, but now the tables had turned.

"Alright you lot, off you go..." she said to them and they obediently left, but before Scotty could get to the door Padme called him back.

"Scotty, you couldn't give me a hand could you?"

"Sure Aunt Padme," Scotty said happily and together, they dragged Anakin back to the appartment.


	13. Nerfherder

**Author Note: Hey you guys, thanks for all the reviews so far! And a BIG THANKYOU to Nirah Skywalker who seems to be a huge fan! Thanks for all your great reviews and I hope you like the rest of the story as much as you have so far! **

**I know this sounds kinda cheeky and rude, but could people possible spread the word about my stories, because I have now started a bet with one of my mates that I can get a hundred reviews per story by the end of the year. I don't wanna lose £10! I need that! So even if you just mentioned it to one person, that would be so helpfull, thankyou!**

(-o-o-)

"Leia, come and help me with your father!" Padme called as her and Scotty dragged Anakin into the living room and dumped him on the sofa, both extremely exhausted from heaving the huge body of Anakin up so many flights of stairs because the lift wasn't working.

"Alright!" came the reply from Leia's room and she walked out to great them. The first thing she did, however, was to hug her Mum, causing Padme to smile and temporarily forget about the mess.

Luke and Han emerged from their room, chatting about who they thought would win that afternoon's podrace.

"I reckon Sebulba stands a good chance," Luke said and Anakin tilted his head back to listen.

"Is Sebulba still going? I thought he'd have at least retired by now!" he exclaimed and Luke laughed, knowing Anakin and Sebulba were old rivals.

"When's it on?" Anakin asked after a moment, managing to push himself upright with a very wobbly arm.

"About five minutes, can we watch it Mum?" Luke asked politey and Padme nodded. Immediately Leia frowned at her mother.

"No way Mum!" she said but Padme glared at her and she backed off, knowing she had gone too far.

"You can either watch the race with them or come and help me un pack my stuff," Padme said and Leia's eyes filled with horror at the ultimatum.

She hated both options but eventually decided on watching the race because it involved no effort. Anakin invited Scotty to join them whilst Padme went about, tidying the place up.

The couch was so cramped after Luke had budged up and let Scotty in that Han was practically sitting on Leia's lap, which he loved!

"Get off Han!" Leia cried, trying to push him away.

"Aw, I thought you liked my company!" he teased.

"I don't know where you get your delusions laser brains," Leia retorted and Luke roared with laughter. He had to admit that this verbal battle between two of the strongest wills he had ever encoutered, (second only to his parents) was highly amusing.

"Laugh it up shorty!" Han said good naturedly, ruffling Luke's hair. "You didn't see us alone together in the kitchen earlier."

Until now, Anakin and Padme had scarecely listened to this lively exchange, Han and Leia had argued frequently enough in the past. But the reference to the kitchen sparked their curiosity and they looked at Leia for an explanation.

"She expressed her true feelings for me," Han continued, delighted in the rosy flush that appeared on Leia's cheeks. "Come on young padawan. You've already forgotten?"

"Why, you low-down...stuck-up...half-witted...scruffy-looking...nerf-herder!" she sputtered furiously.

"Leia!" Padme exclaimed, appaled at her daughter's behavior.

"Who's scruffy-lookin?" han grinned. "I tell ya sweetheart, I must've hit pretty close to the mark to get ya hoppin like this. Doesn't it look that way Luke?"

"Yeah," Luke agreed, staring at his sister incredulously.

"Oh it does, does it?" Leia snapped and Padme decided now was the right time to intervene.

"I guess you don't understand women yet then, do you!" she laughed, taking Leia's side. As she looked at her daughter now, she saw there was a mix of emotions on her face. Something vulnerable, almost childlike innocence was reflected in her eyes for a moment, but then the tough mask fell again and Leia stormed out of the room.

Padme saw her door bang and felt the floor tremble slightly from the force of the door being slammed. She sighed, knowing that it would take hours now before Leia was feeling sociable enough to talk to anyone. She could try talking to her now, but that would only end up in the two of them fighting, which was the last thing Padme wanted because their fights were so rare. And also because when the two of them fought, it caused huge eruptions in the force and thinkgs usually exploded, creating a serious danger for anyone around them.

Infact, thinking back over the years, Padme and Leia had only really fought twice. Once when Leia had died her hair bright green, and another when Leia had deliberately flushed Han's head down the toilet.

Glancing at the clock and noticing it was getting late, Padme decided to turn in for the night. She couldn't wait to get into bed and sleep. She was exhausted!

Saying goodnight to the guys, she went to her room and pulled on a clean silken gown, throwing her robes in a corner and promising to tidy up in the morning. Or perhaps Leia could do it for her?

_Who am I kidding! _she thought as she crawled under the covers. _Leia would never do anything like that unless there was something in it for her!_

Almost immediately, sleep consumed her and carried her into a dream world where Leia was the perfect daughter and actually got on with Han, rather than fighting with him the whole time.

A while later, Anakin joined her, making sure he didn't wake her as he climbed into bed. Padme looked so cute when she was asleep, despite the fact that she was now 45 and grey hairs were starting to show.


	14. The Dream

**Author Note: Hey Guys, Once again, sorry it took so long to update, but I've been baby sitting a friends little girl, visiting Hickstead with the family and trying to sort out my very untidy room. However, I should hopefully be able to post more frequently now that all the busy stuff is out of the way.**

**Here's the next chapter, so enjoy!**

(-o-)

_Everything was dark as Padme walked slowly down a dark tunnel. There was no light, no sound, nothing._

_Feeling for her saber she ignited it and held it up infront of her. A doorway was illuminated by the beams of blue light, so she started forwards more positively, curious to see what was on the other side._

_It turned out to be a large round platform, suspended in darkness. As she stepped onto the platform, she felt something shift under her foot and looking down saw that she had stepped on some kind of trigger or button. It had the dark mark carved into it and she knew evil was all about her. Carefully removing her foot from the button, she walked further onto the platform, keeping her saber raised infront of her. _

_Looking back she saw the button raise again and then there was a loud hiss, like someone turning on a gas tap. Then there was a small spark infront of her and flames burst up all around the edge of the platform, trapping her in the middle. She turned about wildly, looking for a way out, and then she heard something that made her freeze._

_Lightsabers clashing furiously together._

_Turning slowly on the spot, she saw something that made her heart miss several beats. The flames infront of her had transformed into the figures of Luke and Anakin, who were dueling furiously. This was obviously a fight to the death._

_The flames danced around them as they fought on and the picture slowly changed to reveal a long passage, surrounded by large rocks. Luke and Anakin fought each other down the long passage and eventually emerged onto a large platform inside the heart of a mountain. A small bridge led from the platform to a similar one on the other side, and in between was a large gaping black hole that Padme could sense was never ending._

_Luke was forcing Anakin back further and further towards it...Anakin's foot slipped and he fell. Padme heard a scream and at first thought it was Anakin crying out. But then she realised it was actually herself. The flames closed in around her, trapping her in this nightmare world..._

"No!" she cried, sitting bolt upright in bed. Anakin was sleeping soundly beside her and she relaxed, wiping the sweat off her forehead and slipping carefully out of bed. She heard a large snore and knew it would take more than a nightmare to wake him up.

She wandered into the living room, grabbing her gown from the end of the bed as she passed. The metal head band she had been wearing had shifted slightly, so she unconsciously reached up one hand to straighten it again.

Sitting down on the soft couch, she watched as the lights from outside lit up the room, almost like it was daytime again. She flicked a switch and a few lights lit up and the small fountain started. She sat for a while, not moving. Just listening to the soft trickle of water seemed to calm her and it wasn't long before the memory of the dream was almost gone.

Was she even sure it was Luke and Anakin fighting? Why would they do something like that? The flames had seriously distorted the image, and yet she knew it was them, despite all her doubts. Anakin had been getting frequent visions of Luke turning Sith, and now it seemed like she was aswell. So did this mean that the dreams and visions were actually premonitions, or was she just being paranoid?

If only there was someone to talk to. She didn't want to wake Anakin because he would be in a foul mood in the morning...

_Ding-dong. _The door chime signaled the arrival of a visitor and Padme jumped, not expecting anyone at this time of night. However she knew who it must be.

"Obi-Wan? What brings you here?" she said, smiling at the fact that she had guessed right. Obi-Wan truly had no sense of time and would often call at horrid hours when it was totally inconveniant for him to do so. However, tonight Padme wasn't angry with him. Infact she was glad he was here.

Obi-Wan sensed this and looked startled. He had been stealing himself for a major telling off, but instead he was greated happily.

"What's up?" he asked as he followed her into the living room.

"I was about to ask you the same thing!" she smiled, offering him a seat on the couch.

"Why aren't you mad at me?" he tried a different tactic.

"I'm just glad to see you, that's all," she sighed.

"What's wrong Padme, tell me,"

"Why do you think there's something wrong?" she asked and her smile showed he had caught her off guard.

"Padme, I'm a Jedi Master. I can sense that you are tense, and even if I wasn't a Jedi, it would still be pretty obvious that something is troubling you. I can read you like a book."

"Oh, well its nothing, honestly. I'm probably just being stupid."

"Padme, you're not stupid. Stupid doesn't even exist in your world."

"Thanks," she said, feeling the colour rushing to her cheeks. It wasn't often that Obi-Wan complimented her, but when he did, he always made her feel extra special.

"So come on then. What made you think you were being stupid?" he asked encouragingly and suddenly she found herself spilling out everything about her dream, retelling it in so much detail that it was like she was dreaming it again.

Obi-Wan could tell she was obviously distressed, so he offered encouraging smiles and reassuring pats on the back of her hand which was clasping his tight.

When she had finished, she was close to tears, so Obi-Wan pulled her into a warm hug and she immediately relaxed.

"Don't worry about your dream. I shall inform the other Masters tomorrow, but I doubt if it's anything to get yourself worked up over. Just go back to bed, get some sleep and don't allow yourself to think about it anymore," he said, standing up. Padme stood up too and kissed him on the cheek, grateful that for once his timekeeping had helped her out.

Obi-Wan sent her back to bed, assuring her that he would show himself out. She smiled at him over her shoulder as she went back into her room and closed the door gently.

Obi-Wan sent warm and comforting feelings through the Force, and soon he felt her drop off to sleep. Then he paced around the living room for a while, pondering about the dream. He hadn't told Padme because he didn't want to worry her, but this dream that she had was no mere coincidence. There was evil Sith Magic behind all this, but he couldn't work out how. The Sith were supposedly extinct after all.

And then something Padme had told him all those years ago echoed in his mind.

_I killed the original Emperor. There are still at least a hundred clones of him waiting to be released from hibernation. Each time one dies, another will simply take over._

At last it finally dawned on Obi-Wan how serious the matter was. _I must warn the council right away! _He though, hurrying out of the door, but making sure it shut properly before hastening down the dark corridoor and out to his waiting ship.


	15. Princes of Onderon

Obi-Wan walked up the steps into the Jedi council and saw that there was already a meeting in session the next day. Two men stood in the middle of the room and all around them in the familiar blue chairs were Padme, Anakin, Yoda, Sharivari, Lomitas and the newest Jedi Master Johnny Darko.

"Excuse me for being late," Obi-Wan appologised, bowing low to Yoda before taking his seat next to Padme. She smiled at him as he passed her and he knew that after their little talk, she had had a dreamless sleep and was now feeling refreshed again.

"Missed much, you have not," Yoda informed him as he settled into the seat and looked at the two men infront of him.

"Just started, we have."

Obi-Wan nodded to show that he understood, then he let out a silent sigh of relief. Sleep had finally caught up with him after he had searched the temple all night for the other Jedi Masters with no luck. His worries would have to wait for the moment because he didn't want to share anything with the council that might cause Padme to panick. So instead he focused his attention back onto the two men who were watching him curiously as they stood in the centre of the room.

The pair were obviously brothers, for they had similar features. However, they were also entirely different. One man, the youngest of the two, was a tall man with a fair and noble face, darkish hair that was streaked with chestnut and fell about his shoulders in a dead straight fashion, and a proud and stern glance.

His beard was neatly trimmed so that it was just a thin line of hair running round his cheeks, over his chin and above his lip. He was cloaked and booted as if for a long journey and though his cloak was made of the softest silk, it was stained with travel. The only sign of any clothing under his cloak was a collar embroidered with silver in which a single white stone was set.

The older man was a little more untidy. He too was wearing a cloak which was drawn close about him, but his was a dark green colour. One leg was stretched slightly infront of him as though it hurt him to put weight on it and Obi-Wan could see, from the tiny amount that was showing from under the cloak, that he was wearing boots of supple leather that fitted him well but had seen much wear.

He had a head of long dark hair, flaked with tiny strands of grey, that fell about his shoulders in waves. He, like his brother had a pair of grey eyes, but his were keen and sharp and at that moment were scanning Obi-Wan up and down with interest. Then he reached up one gloved hand and stroked his own beard, which was alot fuller than his brothers and alot less neatly kept.

He kept full eye contact with Obi-Wan for several minutes, which unnerved the Jedi Master and forced him to blink several times before finally having to look away. He looked, instead, at the younger brother who stepped forwards and bowed deeply to Yoda before finally speaking.

"Forgive us for the intrusion Masters. I am Lomas Alberto and this is my brother Ronteza. We are Princes from the planet Onderon and carry a message from our father, King Theodus."

"You don't look much like Princes," Anakin blurted out suddenly, awarding him with a deadly glare from Padme which Obi-Wan found was highly out of character for her. Even Anakin looked a little stunned, but pretended not to notice. Everyone else, however, was looking at the princes, waiting for their reactions.

"Does this answer your question?" Ronteza spoke at last, allowing his cloak to fall open to reveal a navy tunic and red sleeves. The collar was silver with the little white stone, just like Lomas' and as he removed his cloak and allowed it to drop to the floor, Obi-Wan saw that he wore gold a leather gauntlets and an engraved pitol hung from his belt which had a buckle that shone silver, like it had been newly polished. His trousers were neatly pressed and crease free and were tucked into the tops of his boots.

Lomas also removed his cloak to show the same royal attire. Obi-Wan was amazed at how quickly two travelers could look like two royal princes, just by removing one simple item of clothing. He glanced at Anakin who was sitting back in his seat, finally convinced and the meeting continued.

Lomas went on to explain about how the stormtroopers (or clones) had been located on one of the many moons of Onderon, but that the soldiers of Onderon were not strong enough to combat them. During the explanation, Obi-Wan kept glancing at Padme out of the corner of his eye. She was tense, uptight and strangely...frightened, was the only word Obi-Wan could think of to describe her feelings.

_No, not frightened _he realised. _Upset, angry and emotional. Not like Padme at all. And this isn't about the dream either! It has something to do with these two princes. But what?_

Obi-Wan's question was soon to be answered. Ronteza and Lomas were given Anakin's old quarters in the temple to stay in and Yoda had promised them an answer the next evening about whether or not the Jedi would help them and their father.

The two brothers bowed deeply, collecting their cloaks as they did so, and then left the chamber. No-one spoke for a while, and then at last Yoda broke the silence.

"Mistress Skywalker, something to say, have you?"

"No Master," she replied, startled slightly by Yoda's words. Yoda could tell that something was up, so he continued.

"Feelings of anger towards the Princes, you have. Know them, do you?"

There was a long pause and everyone turned to regard Padme as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. At last she nodded.

"They are distant cousins of mine. Their family has caused nothing but trouble for as long as I can remember."

"Sure of this, are you?" Yoda asked, and again Padme nodded.

"When I traced my family tree again a few years ago, like you had requested that I do, I saw their names had been added. I was curious to know who they were, so I researched their family and found that almost every member has stood trial for some crime or another. They are trouble Master, and I don't trust them."

"They did look shifty," Anakin admitted and Obi-Wan and several of the others had to agree.

Another thing Obi-Wan wanted to know was how Ronteza had hurt his leg. When he had removed his cloak, he had revealed a rather large scorch at the top of his boot which showed a deep burn mark, like that made from a lightsaber.

As though reading his mind, Padme added "That cut on Ronteza's leg was made by Serena Hart, my old padawan, a few weeks ago. I had suspected something was up for ages, so I asked her to tail them and when they found her, they attacked her. She barely escaped with her life."

"They have no respect for the Jedi and it angered me that they should come asking for our help after almost killing a Jedi Knight."

"Your anger, I now understand. But allow anger, you should not for reasons that you already know. Know you, do they?"

"No Master, I don't think so."

"An advantage this may prove then."

"Yes Master," Padme nodded and the other Master stood up, now that the meeting had finally ended.

Anakin took Padme's hand and comforted her as they left together. Obi-Wan sighed. _Poor Padme is not a happy person! _he thought sadly as he watched her leave. _This is the last thing she needs at the moment. Just seeing them must bring back awful memories. I saw how she was at the temple when she was reminded of her actions. This can only add to her grief...and that dream doesn't help matters either. I should find Master Yoda and tell him about the dream now, before more bad news gets in the way!_


	16. Show offs and broken ships

**Author Note: Hey guys! I just thought I'd mention the people I modelled Ronteza, Lomas, Serenaand Scotty on (well, how they look, anyway!)**

**Ronteza is Aragorn from Lord of the Rings (Viggo Mortensen)**

**Lomas is Boromir from the same film (Sean Bean)**

**Serena is Miranda Frost from Die ANother Day - James Bond (Rosamund Pike)**

**Scotty is Balian from Kingdom of Heaven (Orlando Bloom)**

**Once again, please read and review, I love hearing what you have to say!**

(-o-o-)

Scotty was waiting obediently outside as Ronteza and Lomas came out. Master Yoda had asked him earlier to show them to Anakin's room when they came out, so that is what he was doing.

He couldn't help but be a little surprised when they came out because he had known they were Princes, but he wasn't expecting them to look like they did. Never the less, he stepped up and bowed to them.

"I am Scotty Lars," he said as he straightened up. "Master Yoda has asked me to show you to your rooms,"

"Are you a Padawan?" Ronteza asked as he took in Scotty's appearance.

"No sir, I'm a Jedi Knight," Scotty asked a little annoyed. He didn't think he looked like a padawan at all, and more than once his Aunt Padme had said that he looked more like a Jedi Master than his Uncle Anakin. He was dressed in the traditional Jedi robes, but his were a slightly darker colour than usual, although not as dark as his Aunt and Uncle's. He had long dark hair that fell sort of about his shoulders and a dark beard which he kept neatly trimmed and tidy at all times. He had keen brown eyes that always seemed bursting with energy and were, at that moment, glaring at Ronteza for his recent comment.

Sensing the growing tension, Lomas took his brother by the arm.

"Leave the kid alone, he's just doing his job."

Ronteza was about to argue when Yoda came out.

"Problem, is there?" he asked as Scotty bowed low.

"No Master Yoda," Lomas said quickly before Ronteza could cut in. Then Anakin and Padme came out and began to walk down the corridor. Scotty desperately wanted to speak with them, so he looked pleadingly at Yoda who smiled and nodded.

"Thankyou Master!" Scotty said as he ran to catch up with them.

"Show you to your rooms personally, I will," Yoda said, leading the two Princes off towards the bed chambers.

(-o-)

"Uncle Anakin! Aunt Padme! Wait!" Scotty called as he ran as fast as he could. They stopped and looked round when they heard him and smiled as he caught up.

"What's up Scott?" Anakin asked curiously as Scotty doubled over, trying to catch his breath.

"I...um...just wanted to chat...that's all..." he panted as he straightened back up and the three of them began walking. "I didn't get much of a chance yesterday."

Anakin and Padme couldn't dissagree with that. Leia had made sure that she always had something to say, forcing poor Scotty to just sit back and listen.

"So, um, who were those two men? Yoda said they were Princes from somewhere."

Padme tensed up a little and Anakin motioned that now was not a good time to mention them. Scotty took the hint and quickly changed the subject.

"When can I become a Jedi Master? You did promise you'de ask Yoda. Did he give you an answer?"

"Oh damn! I forgot!" Anakin cried. He turned on his heel and sprinted back down the corridor. Scotty was amazed at how fast and agile his uncle was, despite the fact that he was 42. He came back a few minutes later with a huge grin on his face.

"Yoda says to go and see him later and he'll decide then,"

"Cool!" Scotty gave a little whoop and punched the air, causing Padme to laugh. She wrapped her arm around his strong shoulder and ruffled his hair.

"You know, you remind me of Anakin when he was your age."

"Does he?" Anakin asked, alarmed, causing Padme to laugh even harder. The three of them carried on back to the hanger where their starfighters were waiting.

(-o-o-)

"Hey, wanna go for a little detour?" Anakin's voice came over the radio. He had seen a huge traffic jam ahead that Padme and Scotty hadn't seen yet. When she saw the huge jam, Padme quickly agreed, pulling her ship round to follow Anakin away. Scotty darted ahead, then fell back behind where he stayed for a while before deciding to show off, spinning over Padme's ship.

"Show off!" she laughed and as he came over again he stuck his tongue out at her. She responded in the same way and they both burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Anakin asked. He was way ahead and hadn't seen anything.

"Scotty's just showing off," Padme replied and immediately Anakin slammed on the brakes so that he was beside her in seconds.

"Jeez Anakin! A little warning would be nice!" she scolded, but then grinned again as he began showing Scotty some of his tricks.

Soon the pair of them were barrel rolling, playing chicken and just generally fooling around. Padme, although eager to watch them as much as possible, wasn't going to allow herself to get distracted, seeing as she was now the one leading them home.

However, she couldn't help but look up when a shadow fell over her cockpit. Anakin was flying upside down above her waving frantically. She waved back and then looked back infront of her, just intime to see a large transport vehicle heading towards her. Swooping down low, she narrowly missed it and heard angry protests over the radio.

"Sorry!" she appologised. She could hear Anakin and Scotty laughing and vowed to get them later. The guys stopped pratting around for a while as they wove through some heavy traffic. Then they came out into a clear section and Anakin began to chuckle.

"Hey, how about a race?"

"No thanks Anakin. You know you'll win! You have the faster ship!" Padme replied and Anakin grinned. He had customized his ship so that it was the fastest ship in existence, and he just loved to rub Padme's nose in it, over and over again!

"Ok then, but if you don't wanna race, I'll have to do this!" he said, coming alongside Padme's ship so that his wing was slightly under hers.

"Don't you dare!" she warned. Anakin wasn't listening.

He jerked upwards and sent Padme into a spin.

"Anakin! I'm gonna kill you!" she shrieked as she frantically tried to regain control.

Just then her ship gave a violent jerk and her astromech droid beeped a warning. She read the screen and saw that one of the fuel pipes had become unattached.

"Now you've broken my ship!" she moaned, Anakin thought she sounded like a little kid who's older brother had just broken one of her dolls.

"What's up with it?" Scotty asked as he pulled alongside.

"The fuel pipe's come undone."

"Get R8 to fix it," Anakin said coming up on her other side.

"He can't. It's snapped and the wing's filling with fuel."

"Well then, we'd best get you back," Scotty said, positioning his wing under hers and holding her ship up. Anakin did the same and the two of them carried her back to the temple for repairs.


	17. Padme vs Ronteza round 1

**Author Note: Hey guys, I've tried to make this chapter extra long to compensate for my irregular postings. I already have my next chapter written, but I'm not posting it today. You'll just have to wait! Tee hee! I hope you like it. Padme finally gets to let out some steam on her dear old distant cousin Ronteza! Ha!**

**Enjoy!**

(-o-)

Early next morning, Padme and Anakin were sparring together in one of the training rooms. Although it was early, there was a great number of people milling around in the room, looking at the showcases of old relic jedi pieces, or watching the two masters fight. Padme was still angry with Anakin, and her anger showed in her moves, for usually Anakin would be beating her 2-1 by this time. However, today she was beating him 3-2 purely because of the aggression she put behind each movement. Anakin found that he was often taken by surprise.

At last they decided to take a break and both walked over to the desk where Obi-Wan was sitting. He was the caller for their practice session and was incharge of keeping score and enforcing the rules. He handed them both their drinks and sat back, listening to Anakin try to explain to Padme for the fifth time that it was not his fault that her ship was beyond repair.

"I just busted the fuel pipe, that's all."

"Anakin! The engineer said it looked like it belonged to a boy-racer! The only person I ever let use it other than me is you when yours is out of fuel. Explain that!"

Obi-Wan sat up, interested to hear Anakin's excuse. He knew that Anakin had been racing Padme's speeder round the city, so now he wanted to hear Anakin's explanation.

"Well I...um...you need soome new moves."

"What? Don't change the subject!" Padme said, looking up from the book she had been flicking through.

"You need a new technique. I can read your every move."

"Yeah?" she replied sarcastically, picking up the book as though she was going to take it somewhere else. "Well read this!" she hit him hard around the head with the book then stormed off to join Serena in the corner.

Obi-Wan chuckled, earning him an angry glare from Anakin.

"Just reset the score will you. I'll show her."

Obi-Wan obediently reset the score and watched as Anakin and Padme took up their positions again.

"Positions. Ready. Play," Obi-Wan announced and they began again, each of Padme's movements getting more and more agressive as she was continually reminded of Anakin's last comment. However, he was just as aggressive now, determined to get one over on Padme.

Then Padme swung angrily and her saber stabbed his protective vest, causing a beep from Obi-Wan's station.

"Hit," Obi-Wan announced and Padme and Anakin both pulled off their protective masks.

"Ow!" Anakin moaned, rubbing his chest. Padme appeared to soften a bit and went over to him.

"I'm sorry. But it's your own faul. You broke my..." she paused as she spotted something over Anakin's shoulder. Anakin looked round to see Ronteza and Lomas standing in the doorway, admiring the room. Then Ronteza stepped forwards.

"Well well, what do we have here? Two Jedi Masters who are perfectly matched. That won't do. The best way to improve is to go against someone who is better than you."

"Like who?" Padme asked angrily. She had just started enjoying herself again when they had to ruin it by showing up.

A wide grin spread across Ronteza's face as he pulled a training saber from the stand. "Like me of course."

"Really?" Padme's voice was dripping with sarcasm, but Ronteza chose to ignore it. "And you are?" she asked him. She knew who he was really, but she just wanted to make it seem like they had never met before, like Master Yoda had advised her.

_If I pretend I don't know who he is, then he won't realise that I do actually know him._

"Prince Ronteza Mercutio Domingues Alberto at your service," he said with a slight bow. "And you are?" he asked politely.

"Mistress Skywalker, fourth Jedi Master of the New Order,"

"A female Jedi, well well. Miss Skywalker...you were at the meeting yesterday, correct?"

"Correct," Padme replied suspiciously.

"Hmm. Have we met before. You seem familiar."

"Oh, I think I'd remember," she replied matter of factly, hoping he didn't realise she was lying.

_Well it's not really a lie. I haven't actually met him before, but I do know him._

"Of course you would. My Mistake," Ronteza said, taking a sip of his drink that Obi-Wan had handed him. "Are you a gambling woman Miss Skywalker?"

"If the stakes are right," she replied cooly, showing no emotions now.

"1000 credits a point too much for you?"

Padme shrugged as though she didn't care and Ronteza smiled, turning to his brother who was standing next to Anakin.

"Care to place a bet Lomas?"

"No thanks. I don't gamble," came the reply as Lomas walked over to a corner to watch. Ronteza turned back to Padme.

"Shall we?" he asked as Anakin handed him his helmet and body protector. It was just as well that Anakin and Ronteza were near enough the same size, even with Anakin's huge suit on, for Ronteza was a large powerfull man with rippling muscles.

"Excuse me," Padme said to Anakin, who nodded and went to stand with Lomas. Obi-Wan reset the score again.

"Best of three hits?" Ronteza asked and Padme nodded as she pulled her helmet back on.

"Positions. Ready. Play," Obi-Wan announced and Ronteza and Padme got into deffensive positions.

"En garde," Ronteza said, and then lunged forwards. His challenge was met by Padme and the two began to fight. However it was clear that Ronteza was the better fighter because after what seemed like just a few seconds he scored the first point.

"Hit," Obi-Wan announced, putting one point on Ronteza's score. "Positions. Play."

Again they started fighting but it took Ronteza a little longer to get the point this time. However he did eventually.

"Hit," Obi-Wan announced and the whole room groaned. They had so desperately wanted Padme to win. Even Lomas looked a little dissapointed.

Padme and Ronteza pulled off their helmets and Ronteza grinned. Padme, however, was fuming.

"2-0. Do you want to continue?" he asked with a smirk.

"Do you want to up the wager?" she countered and Ronteza was taken by surprise for a moment. Then he seemed to recover and nodded.

"How much can you afford?"

Padme thought for a moment and then a sly grin spread over her face.

"Winner gets the loser's ship."

_For me it's a win win situation. I win, I get his ship. He wins, I get rid of the bucket of bolts sitting on my platform._

She glanced over at Anakin who was about to protest, but she shook her head and shot him a warning look. He closed his mouth, but it was obvious he wasn't happy with the deal. Ronteza, however, smiled happily and held out his hand.

"Deal?"

"Deal," Padme replied, shaking his hand. She was delighted at the fact that Ronteza was so sure he would win.

_He may well win, but I'm gonna make him work for it!_

They moved back to their positions and everyone watched excitedly. They knew the look in Padme's eyes only too well. Shame Ronteza didn't!

"Positions. Ready. Play."

"En garde!" Ronteza cried, lunging forwards. Padme merely sidestepped and he went barreling past, leaving her free to spin on the spot and be ready for him when he turned round. As he did so, she swung her blade at his hands and one of his fingers got trapped between the blade and the handle, giving it a nasty shock and almost crushing it.

"Hit!" Obi-Wan yelled excitedly and the whole room cheered as Ronteza yanked off his helmet and sucked his finger.

"Oh dear, do you want to continued?" Padme echoed sarcastically and Ronteza shot her a fiery look.

"Of course I want to bloody continue!" he cried, pushing Lomas away, who had come to help. Then Ronteza started to pull off his protective clothing and throwing it into Lomas' arms.

"Since we're upping the wager, lets up the weapon shall we!" he said, walking over to a wall where several old ligthsabers, still perfectly useable, hung in neat rows.

"Why not!" Padme replied, taking off her protective clothing and chucking it at Anakin. Several wild cries went up but Padme and Ronteza ignored them.

Ronteza chucked her a saber and she kicked her training one to the side.

"Lets do this the old fashioned way. First blood drawn from the torso."


	18. Padme vs Ronteza round 2

**Author Note: Ok Ok, the fight sequence is based on the one from Die Another Day! Therefor I take no credit for it. I don't own James Bond or Star Wars, so I just thought I'de point that out. For those of you who have seen Die Another Day, the outcome of the fight will be no surprise, but please keep it quiet so you don't spoil it for everyone else!**

**Anyways, back to the story.**

(-o-)

"Padme I really don't think this is a good idea!" Anakin and Obi-Wan said together, but she ignored them, flicked the switch of her blue blade and stood waiting. Then without warning, Ronteza attacked. They spun and fought, crashing into everything and causing several of the display cases to smash and spill their contents.

"Steady on!" Obi-Wan cried as his desk was cleaved in half.

This sudden outburst distracted Padme a bit and allowed Ronteza to slash at her, but she managed to knock his blow down and he slashed her shin instead. Crying out in pain, she retaliated by punching him with the handle of her saber, then slashing his cheek. Ronteza paused to dab at the blood on his cheek, allowing Padme to find better footing amongs all the glass and objects.

And then they were fighting again, out into the hallway that led to the other training rooms, down and round a corner. Ronteza kept pulling chairs from the side and setting them in Padme's way, but she simply hopped onto them, pressed the back with one foot and rode it down as it fell over backwards, like it was a see-saw.

By this time, the fight was more aggressive and several punches were being thrown in between clashes of the saber. However, on the fight went, both determined to beat the other. Back into the training room they went where everyone was chanting or screaming or yelling for them to stop. But still they ignored them. However Padme tripped once on a bit of wood from a display case and Ronteza cut her saber handle in half. She dived away from his blade and picked up another off the floor. Then they fought out onto the balcony leading to the gardens. Several other Jedi were there and they had heard the noises coming from the room. Now they all stopped to watch as Ronteza pressed Padme up against the low wall then punched her in the jaw, causing her to fall over the wall, down to the area below.

Then he ran on down the steps, meeting her at the bottom. On they fought, round a large fountain, then back up the same steps, Ronteza tripping several times, but never falling.

Up they went, onto the balcony again, and along it to another set of stairs on the other side. Padme kicked Ronteza's shin and he fell backwards, tumbling down the steps. However, as he fell, he managed to knock her saber away and she spotted it lying a little way off at the bottom of the steps. Seeing the blue blade fly towards her as Ronteza lie on the ground, she jumped from the top step, dived over him and rolled on the floor, calling her saber to her as she did so. She was on her feet again in seconds, waiting for Ronteza's charge. As he came towards her, she grinned, seeing a way to beat him. She slashed at his legs, but he blocked, so she stepped back a little, bringing Ronteza closer to the fountain in the middle of the garden. Then she went for his head. Up went his blade, but she quickly swung low instead, cutting his stomach and causing him to lose balance and fall into the fountain.

_At last! _she thought triumphantly, but Ronteza wasn't finished. He jumped back up again, soaking wet and their sabers clashed again. However, they were quickly seperated by Lomas, who had run out, closely followed by Anakin, Obi-Wan and Serena.

"That's enough!" Lomas shouted and the two blades parted. Ronteza began to laugh, but Padme was in no mood to do anything other than glare at the two brothers.

"It's just a little sport Lomas," Ronteza replied, shutting down his saber and handing it back to Obi-Wan. Then he dabbed at the cut on his stomach with a finger and looked at the blood.

"It seems you beat me Miss Skywalker." He held out his hand as Padme shut her saber down and also handed it back to Obi-Wan. Then she shook his hand.

"My ship is your. Treat it nicely."

"Keep it. I don't want it. It's tainted with sin!" she replied, turning to leave.

"But it's yours. You won it fair and square."

"Give it to Han!" she called over her shoulder, spotting Han in a corner watching curiously. Han's eyes widened as he realised what she had just said.

"Really? I can have your ship?"

"Yep,"

"Wow! Thanks so much Padme!"

"Don't mention it," she replied with a slight smile as she limped off, dabbing at the cuts on her face. She may have won the fight, but Ronteza was stronger than her and she had many cuts and bruises that needed to be seen too. A small trickle of blood ran from her split lip, and she had a nasty cut above her right eye. Then there was the cut on her leg to be seen too. It was only superficial, but lightsaber wounds always left a scar, no matter how deep or shallow the cut. After all, a lightsaber is designed to burn through things, not just cut them.

She did, however, feel slightly better when she remembered the cut on Ronteza's cheek. That would definately scar and she hoped it would serve as a reminder to the Prince when he next decided to challenge a stranger to an old fashioned duel, because she somehow had the feeling that wasn't the first time Ronteza had pulled a stunt like that.

_Ha! Beaten by a girl! I wonder how he's gonna explain that! _she thought happily as she arrived at the medical bay and typed her code into the loggin computer.

"Back again Mistress Skywalker?" A friendly medical droid asked, leading her into an empty room.


	19. The decision

**Author Note: Hey guys, sorry I took so long to post but the dog ate my only copy of this chapter, so I had to start again from scratch and...and I don't actually own a dog! That was a huge lie! Let's start again!**

**Hey guys, sorry I took so long to post but the rabbit ate my only copy of...that doesn't sound right! Oh anyways, here's the story! And don't forget, read and review, as always! I love to hear from you guys!**

(-o-)

Later on, back in the Jedi Council chamber, Lomas was stood before the council looking grim and ashamed. He was truly shocked at his brother's bahavior and thought that this meeting would be to tell them that they had blown their chances of receiving any help at all. He looked around and noticed that one seat was empty.

_That must be Mistress Skywalker's. I hope she's ok. Ronteza looked like he was getting out of hand. _

At last, Yoda cleared his throat and everyone turned to regard him. _This is it. _Lomas thought solemnly as he stared at the little green Jedi Master.

"Come to a decision, we have," he said at last and Lomas held his breath, waiting.

"Sending three Jedi Masters, Three Knights and a padawan learner with you, we are. Help eliminate the clones, they will, then return straight away."

"Thankyou! Thankyou so much Master Yoda!" Lomas gasped with relief. He had been so sure of a negative answer. Having to consciously remember to breath, he gathered his thoughts for a moment before speaking again. "I can assure you that you shall be most welcome on Onderon in my father's house any time. And I would just like to appologise for my brother's rash behavior now. What he did was well out of order and I am more than willing to pay for the damage."

"Payment for damage, not necessary, but thankyou for the kind offer," Yoda replied. "Meet your Jedi party on landing platform 3 in one hour, you should. Organize transport for you and your brother, I shall."

"Thankyou Master Yoda. Thankyou all," Lomas replied gratefully with a respectful bow before leaving to go and find his brother and inform him of the news. A few moment's later, Padme came in, patched up and looking thoroughly miserable. The cuts on her face looked red raw and sore, but it was not those that were causing her grief. She limped slightly, but again, it was not the scorch on her leg that was upsetting her.

_She's angry about Yoda's decision. No doubt she was outside the door the whole time! _Anakin thought, but didn't dare say incase it got Padme into trouble with the rest of the council. After all, it wasn't like her to miss a session on purpose.

"Forgive me Master," she said with a low bow towards Yoda who nodded and motioned for her to take her seat.

"Mistress Skywalker, understood, your absence is. Forgiven, you are. Feeling better, are you?"

"Yes Master. Thankyou," she replied, sitting down in her seat and waiting to find out what had been going on during her absence.

"Master's Skywalker and Kenobi, go to Onderon you shall. Take the young Skywalkers with you, aswell as Young Lars and Hart. Meet on the platform in an hour, you should, to join the Princes on their journey."

Obi-Wan nodded obediently, but Anakin paused, as though something in Yoda's words didn't make sense.

"Master Yoda, you said three Masters were going. Who is the third?" he asked, looking over at Lomitas and Sharivari, expecting it to be one of them. However, when Yoda didn't answer, Anakin followed his gaze towards Padme who was shaking her head in defiance.

"No way! No! I'm not going!" she protested and Anakin and Obi-Wan shared worried glances. Padme never stood up to Yoda. It was against her nature to even dream about doing such a thing. Yet here she was now, defying one of his orders.

"Disobeying a direct order, are you? Like you, this is not," Yoda spoke what was on everyone's mind.

"Yeah well perhaps I've decided to change. People can do that you know!" she snapped and Anakin was stunned. At last he found his voice.

"Padme please!"

"No! I refuse to help traitors! Why do you ask me to do something you know I cannot do!" she replied angrily and Anakin cowered away slightly. Padme was in one hell of a mood, and nothing he said would help.

_If anything, I'll probably just make it worse! _he thought sadly.

"They turned against my family! Don't you turn against my family too!" she cried.

"But by not helping them, you are doing the very thing you have condemned them for. You are betraying the betrayors," Obi-Wan tried to reason, but instantly regretted saying anything when Padme shot him and angry glare.

"What do you know!" she snarled.

"Mistress Skywalker, go to Onderon you will, but to help the Jedi, not the Princes. Askin you to aid the Jedi, I am," Yoda said gravely and at last, he seemed to have gained Padme's attention.

"How can I get there if I don't have a ship?" she asked and Anakin looked down at the floor, shuffling his feet innocently so as not to receive the same glare that Obi-Wan had moment's earlier. She still hadn't forgiven him yet then. He could feel her eyes boring into him, but still he resisted the temptation to look up and at last he felt her look away.

"Sort transportation I shall. Have your word, do I?" he asked softly and for a while, Padme said nothing as she thought about everything Yoda had said. The other Jedi held their breath, waiting for her answer. Then at last she nodded, and there was a collective sigh as everyone relaxed.

"I'll go, but I'm doing this for the Jedi, not for _them_," she sighed and Anakin shot Obi-Wan an _I told you so! _look which Obi-Wan returned with a smirk.

"Thankyou Mistress Skywalker. Knowing you will be there brings warm feelings to my heart. Allow nothing to happen to the Jedi, I know you will. As for your outburst, understand I do. No appology is needed," Yoda finished and Padme nodded to him gratefully. Then she smiled weakly at everyone else, trying to appologise to them aswell. As they passed her, they gave an understanding nod and she relaxed.


	20. Flight of the Phoenix

**Author Note: Hey guys, if your name isn't amy and you haven't reviewed me recently, then please don't read this, but amy, who reviewed saying that I was 'a huge fan of myself' because I called this story, long awaited, can you possibly just take a moment to read other people's reviews, especially from the prequel 'The Ties That Bind Us' because you will see that many people said they couldn't wait for the sequel. So perhaps next time, you should maybe check your facts first before diving in with such hurtful accusations. I am not a huge fan of my stories because I feel that they aren't anywhere near as good as most of the others on this site, but I'm doing this for fun, not fame! Just remember that next time!**

**Anyways, for the rest of you, on with the story!**

**(-o-)**

An hour later on platform 3, the group were waiting for their ships that were going to be delivered from the service station under the platform. Padme and Anakin stood off to one side, trying to guess what sort of transport Yoda could possibly be providing for Padme.

"Do you think it's his own personal ship? That would be so cool!" Anakin was saying, geting more and more excited every second.

"Calm down! You're making a fool of yourself," Padme hissed angrily, but Anakin was beyond the point of remaining calm.

She was too busy glaring at the two princes to even bother repeating herself. Lomas caught her looking and excused himself from the other group. His appearance was enough to calm Anakin down, and he put a hand on Padme's shoulder, as though warning her not to do anything stupid.

"Mistress Skywalker, am I right in believing that you are infact my distant cousin?" Lomas asked, trying to make casual conversation. However, Padme was not going to say any more than she needed to, so most of her answers were only one or two words.

"Yep,"

"And you used to be the Senator for Naboo?"

"Yep,"

"And you're the grand-daughter of Borowith and Novalee Naberrie?"

"Yep,"

"I get the distinct impression that you don't like me," he said after a moment and Padme just glared at him. Anakin was slightly taken aback by the formal approach the prince had taken.

_Why couldn't he just say 'Don't you like me?' ? Why use 'distinct impression' and stuff?_

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Padme replied and her voice was dripping with sarcasm. Anakin's grip on her shoulder tightened, but she ignored him, using the force to block out any pain.

"Is this about what we did to Borowith?" Lomas asked, desperate to uncover the reason for Padme's distrust in him and his family.

"No, actually, its about what you didn't do to my grandfather. He asked you for help and you ignored him after he saved you and your arrogant, pig headed brother from almost certain death."

_Oh, interesting! _Anakin was suddenly listening intently. So intently infact that he was almost crushing poor Padme's shoulder with his mechanical arm. It was only when he noticed her turning pale, and starting to send him messages through the force of her pain that he realised what he was doing and let go. Padme's breaths became considerably easier as the pain ceased.

However, Anakin never got to find out what had happened between the two families, for at that moment, the platform centre began to open and a platform rose up out of it, carrying the transports that they had all been waiting for. Anakin spotted his trusty starfighter and didn't even wait for the platform to stop moving before he was running up to it. Artoo sat inside the wing, beeping merrily. Looking around, Anakin noticed that Obi-Wan and Scotty were also flying Jedi starfighters, whilst Serena, Luke and Leia were going to pilot the new x-wings. They were dressed in orange jumpsuits with straps and various other vital harnesses and under their arms they carried white helmets with red streaks.

Then Anakin noticed the Millenium Falcon, a flat, circular shaped ship that the Princes had flown in. Han was descending the ramp and asking the Princes to hop on board. He had the Supreme Chancellor's majordomo Chewbacca with him as his new co-pilot and they would obviously be transporting the Princes and Padme to Onderon.

_Padme...Padme? Where is she? _Anakin looked around anxiously. Padme had been right beside him a moment ago. Now she was gone.

_There she is with...what is that?_

Padme was standing with Master Yoda beside a small, one person ship. It was sleek, silver and very flash. It was, in a way, a smaller version of Padme's old royal starships that she had owned whilst Queen and Senator, however it was smaller and looked alot faster. Padme was, as intructed by Master Yoda, wearing her old flight outfit with the grey tunic and maroon sleeves and trousers. Her leather boots had been newly polished and her belt buckle shone bright silver in the evening sunlight. She pulled on her helmet which completely covered her face and tucked her long hair in behind it. Then she said a few final words to Master Yoda, climbed in the cockpit and waited for it to close. The cockpit was blacked out, so Anakin could no longer see her. However, when he switched on the radio, he could hear her muttering to herself as she fired up the engines.

Anakin closed his own cockpit and began to do the same, and soon the platform was filled with the deafening sound of engines roaring to life. One by one, the ships began to lift off, the Millenium Falcon first, followed by the x-wings and Jedi Starfighters, and finally Padme's ship last. Once safely into space, the group all set their co-ordinates and entered lightspeed.

And then Anakin relaxed and began to tune his radio into Padme's frequency. Her ship was miles faster than his, and his was the fastest ship in existence. He had never seen a model like hers before and desperately wanted to know what it was and how she had come to get it in the first place.

(-o-)

"What do you want Anakin?" Padme grinned as she saw his frequency come onto the radio. She knew it wouldn't be long before he would contact her. She had seen the look on his face when he spotted her ship and knew he was probably dying to find out what it was.

"Three things actually..." came the reply and Padme raised her eyebrows in surprise. She had expected more.

"Which are?" she invited, but immediately wished she hadn't, for Anakin's answers were said so fast that they all joined together.

"Onewhattypeofshipisthattwohowdidyougetitandthreewhathappenedbetweenyourgrandfatherandtheprinces"

"Whoa! English Anakin please!" Padme exclaimed. She had only managed to hear a few words out of the whole lot. 'Ship...get and grandfather'. However, from those three, she was able to predict the questions and smiled when she found that she was right.

"I said, what type of ship is that? How did you get it? and what happened between your grandfather and the princes?" Anakin repeated a little slower, feeling rather foolish.

"That's better!" Padme joked. "Well firstly, this is a Phoenix. It's a prototype, and it's the only one that has ever been made. Two, Yoda had been having it built secretly as a retirement treat for when he reached 900, and three, I don't really want to talk about that now. Maybe later."

"Sure," Anakin said. He hadn't been paying attention to the last section. He had been too busy imagining Yoda speeding round in Padme's ship to even bother listening to the last bit.

_Yoda's retirement treat! Oh my god! It's faster than my ship! How can he possibly pilot it when he retires!_

Artoo beeped to tell Anakin that someone else was trying to contact him, so he put Padme on hold for a moment whilst he spoke to whoever it was. Padme didn't mind. She was just enjoying the view of stars whizzing past at impossible speeds. She was already way ahead of everyone else and was thoroughly enjoying her trip.


	21. Deja Vu

**Author Note: Hi guys, sorry it took me so long to post again, but I haven't been very well the past week and have been in bed for a few days. However, I'm better now, but I won't be posting for two weeks because I am going on holiday to Dorset (yay! To my favourite place!) so I won't be able to post again until after the 28th. Sorry, but at least I gave you notice this time!**

**Anyways, hope you like this chapter. It's a cliff hanger, which I know is really mean of me, but it just seemed natural to end it here. Otherwise it wouldn't be right.**

A few hours later, all eight ships emerged from hyperspace and the Jedi Starfighters dumped their hyperdrive rings, leaving them floating in space, ready for the journey home.

A bleeping on Luke's radar warned of incoming ships, and sure enough when he looked up, he saw a squadron of TIE fighters, the stormtroopers new and improved ships, flying directly towards them.

"Looks like we got company," he warned the others and watched as the X-wings and Jedi Starfighters switched to attack mode. He saw that the turrets of the Falcon had also started moving around as the Princes manned the guns.

Only Padme's ship remained unchanged, which Luke found not only odd, but worrying. All ships had a special attack mode built in, which involved the ship changing in some way.

_Why isn't she getting ready to attack? What's wrong? _he thought anxiously as he glanced at her ship. Then heavy laser fire filled the air and he had to set all his focus on the incoming threats.

The fight was on!

The air was soon filled with laser fire from both sides. Luke and Anakin worked in perfect harmony, picking off fighters from each other's tails with ease.

Obi-Wan was chasing a group that had spilt off to one side, Serena and Scotty had headed right into the middle of the squadron and Leia, who had about four on her tail, was weaving in and out of a nearby asteroid field, disposing of each ship, one by one.

The Falcon wasn't as agile as the little fighters, but it was doing well as it dodged the fire and sent out an even deadlier assault from the twin turret cannons.

Only Padme's ship was missing and Anakin was getting worried. He, like Luke, had noticed that she hadn't done anything to prepare for the attack and had now completely dissapeared. He tried her radio and found a faint trace, so she was still in the area, but where?

"Dad, look out! You've got one on your tail!" Luke warned over the radio. Luke was too far away and couldn't get to his Dad.

Anakin started to put all his flight skills into practice, but the clones were wise to his moves now, and nothing he did seemed to shake off the clone. A warning light flashed and Anakin knew the clone had him locked on target. Any second now he would be blown from the sky...

And then something silver streaked past like a bullet. Two missiles were fired from somewhere trailing blue smoke, and then the clone was gone. Nothing remained of it except a few floating bits of metal.

As fast as it appeared, the silver ship dissapeared again, using the sun to hide it because the suns rays were reflecting off it's shining silver sides, blinding anyone who looked at it.

However, Anakin knew who it was that had just saved his life.

"Thanks Padme," he said into the radio. There was silence for a moment, then at last

"No problem. Anytime."

(-o-)

From her position infront of the sun, Padme was able to see everything, whilst no-one could see her. Using her special missiles she was able to lock onto any target and no matter where it went, or what it did, the clone would not be able to avoid the missile. All those that got too close found themselves becoming the victim of the laser cannons in her wings, and pretty soon, Anakin and the others were herding the clones towards her.

The clones didn't know she was there until it was too late.

Within a few minutes, only one clone remained, streaking back towards the moon that they had come from.

"Let it go," Obi-Wan ordered. "He can lead us to their base. Padme?"

"Yes Obi-Wan?"

"I want you to tail it. Your invisible in this bright sun so it won't realise it's being followed. Land as close to the base as you can and then set your tracker. We can use that to find you."

"Right you are," Padme replied, and for the second time that day, Padme's silver ship streaked past the others and followed in hot pursuit of the fleeing clone.

"Now we sit and wait," Obi-Wan sighed, shutting his attack mode off so that his ship returned to normal flight mode. The others did the same and from the way the turrets were now motionless, it was clear that the Princes had got the idea.

(-o-o-)

The surface of the moon was rocky and covered in huge mountains and deep canyons, with dangerous rocks over hanging everywhere. Padme had to navigate carefully through this treacherous place. Anakin would have no trouble, nor would Luke, for they were two of the best pilots she had ever known, closely followed by Scotty and Han. As she flew, she felt a sudden surge of jealous anger as her wing clipped a rock and almost sent her spinning out of control.

_Patience _she told herself, using the force to calm her down and guide her movements. For a moment she thought she'd lost the clone, but then as she turned a corner , she found him again.

He was landing on a tiny platform suspended out from the side of a huge mountain. There was no way all of them would be able to land on it, but still, she had a job to do. Hovering in the sunlight, she waited until the clone had run into the heart of the mountain via a large cave, before she landed. Flicking on the tracker, she climbed out of the cockpit and pulled out her saber, just in case.

When she heard voices, she knew that more clones were coming, probably with armed reinforcements.

"Take off, hover in the sunlight above this platform. Don't move unless it is absolutely vital," she told her little astrodroid. It beeped in understanding and then began to carry out her orders whilst she crept over to the side of the platform and hid amongst some large boulders. From her view, she saw at least fifty clones march out onto the platform.

_Ok, this isn't going to work. _She thought, pulling out her commtalk.

"Obi-Wan?" she whispered into the tiny device. "Obi-Wan, you won't be able to land. I'm sending my ship to a better landing spot, and I'm setting my personal tracker on the platform so that you know where to head for."

"Understood Padme. But what are you gonna do?"

"I don't know yet," she replied truthfully, signing out and putting it back in her belt. Then she pulled out her own tracker and set it on a nearby boulder, well out of sight of the clones.

"You, freeze!" a voice said behind her and she felt the end of a rifle pushed into her back. Raising her hands slowly above her head, she turned to see a group of clones surrounding her.

"Get up!" it ordered, so she slowly stood up, vivid memories of her last capture running through her mind.

"Get her out of here!"

Padme was marched off the platform, into the cave that the pilot had run in earlier. She felt a mixture of dissapointment, grief, shame and guilt at her failure and hoped that the others would get there soon to resuce her.


	22. Certain Death

**Author Note: Hey peeps! I'm back. Sorry it took me so long to post, but I've been unpacking...plus I have to admit that I totally forgot to post because I was so thrilled with my GCSE results. All A's and B's! **

**So anyways, another cliffhanger I'm afraid...but I hope it was worth the wait.**

(-o-o-)

A few hours later, chaos had broken out on the moon of Onderon.

The others had managed to land and find Padme's tracker up on the platform. All was going well until a loud explosion caused a cave inwhich seperated them. Thats when things started going wrong.

Luke and Leia had dissapeared without a trace, Lomas and Ronteza had found the Emperor's cloning room and had begun smashing all the pods, only to discover that they were empty anyway, Serena had fallen in a hiddenpit and when Scotty tried to pull her out, he had fallen in aswell, Han and Chewie had got locked in the trash compactor and Anakin and Obi-Wan were following an unidentified ship to another platform a few miles away.

As for Padme, she had cleverly managed to escape from the clones after the explotion only to get lost in the maze of underground tunnels. She still had her lightsaber because the clones had stupidly forgotten to confiscate it, but seeing as her hands were shackled tightly behind her back, it was pretty useless anyway.

_Why can't things just go to plan for once. Why do they always end up going completely the opposite to how they should go?_ she thought angrily as she traipsed along yet another corridor. They all looked so familiar that she had no idea if she was going round in circles or simply just walking up and down the same one.

Suddenly she heard footsteps in the distance and ducked behind a pillar just as someone came running down the tunnel.

It was Luke.

"Luke, help me!" she called as he ran past, stepping out of the shadows. Luke spun on the spot in surprise.

"Mum? What happened?"

"Long story!" she sighed as Luke cut the chains and she rubbed her wrists sorely. "Where is everyone?"

"Good question!" Luke replied as they set off again. "After the explotion we all got seperated and you're the first person I've met since."

"Well, I think we should first find our way out of here and then we can focus on finding the others."

"I agree," Luke said as they rounded yet another corner and came to a dead end.

(-o-)

"Eww! What is that?" Serena cried as something wet ran over her feet. Scotty looked down to find that the pit was slowly filling with water.

"Um...water...with no where else to go," he replied worriedly.

"Oh great, we have to get out of here now, otherwise we'll end up drowning."

"You think I don't know that!" Scotty snapped as they scrabbled at the sides of the pit, trying to pull themselves out. But the sides were smooth and slipery. Impossible to climb. A perfectly made death trap.

"Great. I get to spend the rest of my very short life, stuck in a hole with a hotheaded jerk who thinks he the best, just because he's related to the 'Chosen One'!" Serena groaned and Scotty glared at her angrily.

"What, and you think I like being stuck in here with an insufferable know-it-all like you!" he shot back.

For a while there was silence and the water rose even higher. It was up to their waists now and Serena was starting to shiver from the cold.

Scotty began to soften a little when he saw the look on her face. She obviously hadn't meant what she had said. It was just her way of trying to put on a brave face.

Taking off his cloak, he wrapped it around her and hugged her to keep her warm. She didn't resist, but looked up into his eyes gratefully.

"Thankyou..." she whispered and Scotty finally summoned up the courage to say what he had been hiding for a long time.

"I love you Serena. I have done, ever since we were padawans together."

To his surprise, she answered with a kiss on his lips that lingered and deepened, expressing her true feelings for him aswell. When they parted at last, she looked up into his eyes again and said "I love you too. But I was afraid that you didn't love me."

"Of course I did. Who couldn't love someone as happy and carefree...and beautiful as you?"

(-o-o-)

"What do you mean 'It's my fault we're down here'? You were the one who said you smelt food!" Han snapped at Chewbacca as the two tried to prize the door of the compactor open with metal bars.

Chewbacca barked an angry reply and Han stopped what he was doing and raised his eyebrows at the Wookie.

"You're the one who's always thinking with your stomach! At least I can keep my mind off food for more than five seconds!"

Chewie opened his mouth to argue, but the sound of metal grinding stopped them both dead. A few seconds later the walls began to close in on them as the compactor began compacting the trash.

The two grabbed up as many large poles as they could, trying to jam the walls back, but the poles just buckled and bent under the strength of the walls.

"Well, this is it Chewie...there's nothing more we can do. I'm sorry old pal," Han sighed, climbing to the top of the highest junk pile and sitting down on a rusty bucket. Chewie joined him, saying nothing as the two waited for the inevitable.

(-o-)

"Lomas, you've missed one!" Ronteza called as he smashed yet another pod, allowing the sticky goo to slither out and soak his already wet boots. The goo was now almost knee height and was becoming more and more difficult to walk in, but the Princes refused to give in until every last pod was smashed.

"Ronteza, look out!" Lomas called and Ronteza had to jump out of the way as a hole split in the side of a large water tank and began spilling water out into the room aswell. To make matters worse, an electric cable dangled a few feet above the water. If the tank burst, it would mean the cable was actually in the water...meaning Ronteza and Lomas would be fried.

"HELP ME!" Ronteza yelled, realising the danger they were in and trying to jam the hole with his fist, but it wasn't working. Lomas began wading his way towards his brother, but he had a feeling he would be too late. So instead, he dived towards the wire, hoping to hook it up, out of the way. Just as his hand closed around it, the tank burst and Rontteza was swept backwards by the strong current.


	23. Apprentice revealed

**Author Note: Well, I'm getting near to finishing this story now in rough, and I can guaruntee lots of action with lightsabers, aswell as falling rocks, bottomless pits and hovering platforms...I've said too much already! Please read and review as always!**

**(-o-)**

"Why do I get the feeling we've been down here before?" Padme grumbled as Luke and her wandered down yet another dark tunnel.

Her patience was slowly growing thin and Luke, sensing this, was doing everything he could think of to ease the tension. After all, it would not be a pleasant experience to be trapped down in the dark with a very angry Padme. He had heard stories of Padme's anger many times, and didn't want to experience it first hand.

Suddenly, Padme froze, causing Luke to walk straight into her. She said nothing, but just scanned the area, not with her eyes, but with the force. They weren't alone in the tunnel and whatever was with them wasn't friendly.

Luke sensed it too, for he pulled out his saber and used the light from the blue blade to illuminate the passage ahead.

And there, standing in the middle of the passage ahead was a figure cloaked entirely in black. Their face was hidden in shadow and Padme knew straight away that this must be the new Sith Apprentice. All her fears of Luke falling to the Dark Side suddenly vanished and this seemed to lift a great weight from her mind. She was suddenly able to concentrate on the present again, instead of living in the future, fearing what would happen.

Drawing her own saber and filling the tunnel with even more blue light, she said confidently "What do you want?"

And then she realised that the Apprentice wasn't alone. They were flanked by at least ten Clones. A shuffling sound behind her told her that more had just surrounded them.

"Why Mistress Skywalker, the peace keeper, surely that is not considered a very polite way to start a conversation?" a low, evil, yet distinctly familiar voice said.

"Well excuse me for my momentary lapse of manners," Padme replied sarcastically.

"Appology accepted. Now shall we start again? I believe we must first introduce ourselves."

"Fine, who are you?" Padme wasn't in the mood for being nice, but this just caused the apprentice to laugh.

"I am your worst nightmare!" they replied and as one hand reached up to pull back the hood, the clones closed in around them even more.

And then the hood was down and Padme gasped. Luke did a double take, his eyes wide with shock...

and Leia just laughed back at them.

She clicked her fingers and suddenly lasers were going off in every direction. However, Luke and Padme were too quick for that and they transformed into a blur of blue as one by one, the clones were defeated.

As she was blocking the lasers with her saber, she saw the end of a cloak dissapearing down a side passage with a hidden door. Looking to Luke, who encouraged her to go, Padme darted through the door seconds before it closed with a deafening thud.

She was swamped in darkness and her saber was barely lighting up anything more than two feet away from her.

_This is not natural! What is this evil? _Padme wondered as she plunged ahead into the darkness, determined to catch Leia. She put her entire trust in the force to get her to the end of this passage safely.

(-o-o-)

Padme had been walking for some time in the dark now and her eyes had adjusted to the light...or rather lack of it...when suddenly she felt a searing pain in her side. Collapsing to the floor, her face wet with tears of pain, she clutched at her side in agony. Her saber had fallen to the ground somewhere and had de-activated, extinguishing the last of the light.

Padme lay there, seriously worried about what had happened. She knew she wasn't hurt, but someone close to her was. Was it Luke? Was it Anakin? Was it Leia? Despite the fact that Leia was now a Sith, Padme still couldn't bare the thought of anything happening to her.

_Mother! Mother you must leave now! Warn father about Leia! _

She could hear Luke through the force as clearly as if he had been standing right next to her.

_Luke, what happened? Are you alright? _she tried to answer, but she hadn't a clue whether he had heard her or not.

_Please Mum, it's too late for me, but you can save yourself and the others if you hurry. Please!_

_Luke talk to me! Luke!_

_Go now! Please!_

And then Luke's force signature died away and he wasn't there anymore. The pain had vanished in Padme side and she let out a breath she hadn't even realised she'd been holding. Immediately fearing the worst, she called her saber to her and started back down the way she had come, but then Luke's words echoed in her head. She knew she must go on, catch Leia and warn Anakin, but what about Luke?

Finally she forced herself to leave him and go on. After all, if she didn't, he might not be the only one she lost that day.

At last she came to a large steel door and forced her way through by hacking off the hinges - a bad habit she had picked up from being around Anakin too long - and saw Leia taking of in her x-wing, her cloak now pulled off and stuffed under the seat.

It was then that Padme realised where she was...back in the valley where the others had parked their ships. And there was her Phoenix, looking as beautiful as ever in the setting sun. Running over to it, she vaulted lightly into the cockpit and pulled on her helmet whilst her droid took off. Punching each control several times, Padme yelled at the dashboard for being so slow. She was fast losing patience - yet another of Anakin's bad habits - and when the fault light blinked, she could feel the anger ready to burst out of her.

"You can't be serious!" she groaned as the panel told her that the ship had been tampered with. Padme banged her fist angrily on the controls and her droid gave a startled beep, reminding Padme to calm down before she did something stupid. Realising he was right, Padme took deep, calming breaths and soon felt much more relaxed.

But then she noticed that she would have to pursue Leia at a painfully slow crawl. It was enough to drive her mad.

Only the thought of catching Leia kept her sane.


	24. At last some answers

**Author Note: Well here goes guys, the beginning of the end. I don't want to spoil it too much, but there is a surprising twist at the end. Possibly what you'de expect, possibly what you wouldn't, possibly both...you'll have to wait and see...**

**But first I think we need some answers to those elusive questions, don't you?**

(-o-)

"Remind me again what we are doing here? Whatever it was flew off an hour ago," Anakin grumbled as he reclined on the wing of his starfighter. They were on another landing platform a few miles away from the others, and so, had no idea of what had happened.

"I'm trying to find out why they came here," came a reply from behind a large boulder. Then Obi-Wan re-appeared covered in cobwebs.

Anakin sighed and gazed up above to the peak of the mountain. It was the largest one on the moon and the most impressive thing Anakin had ever seen. It seemed to stretch for miles upwards, and all around its peak were floating platforms, almost invisible against the darkening sky. Anakin found this most peculiar, but he didn't want to spend a second longer than he needed to on this rock, so he decided to keep it quite from Obi-Wan, who would surely want to investigate.

Suddenly a shadow fell across the platform and the two Jedi looked up as Leia's X-wing decended on the platform. Anakin jumped up to greet his daughter, and was concerned when he saw she was crying.

"What's happened Leia? Tell me," he shouted as he sprinted towards her with Obi-Wan hot on his heels.

"Dad, its awfull...Mum's vanished and the others are...the others are dead," she cried, throwing herself into Anakin's arms.

"All of them? Luke? Serena? Scotty?"

"All of them. I saw them die on screens in a control room I found. I didn't know where they were, and it was too late anyway. As soon as I found my way out of the maze, I came straight here to warn you."

"It's ok, it ok. I'm here now," Anakin soothed, hardly able to believe what he had heard. However, Leia would never lie to him, so he knew deep down that it must be true.

"Why didn't you let us go back sooner!" Anakin turned angrily to Obi-Wan. "They needed us, and yet you insisted on staying here! Now my son's dead! And possibly my wife too, all because of you!"

"Now hold on Anakin, you know that's not true. You could have left at any time. I wasn't forcing you to stay."

"Thats not the point. You asked me to stay, and being your best friend, I agreed."

Obi-Wan stood close by in silence for a few moments, then he saw something that he must have missed before. Walking over to it, he picked up a tiny little ring lying in the middle of the platform whilst Anakin went back to trying to console Leia.

As soon as his fingers closed around it though, Obi-Wan sensed a trap, and sure enough, seconds later, laser wall closed around him, trapping him. He pulled out his saber and tried to hack away at the lasers, but it was no use. And then he saw the control panel a few feet away.

"Anakin! Anakin help me! Push the controls!" he called, and Anakin pulled himself away from Leia. He ran over and began pressing button after button, trying to release the shields, but nothing worked. At last, he narrowed it down to one button left on the panel.

"Found it!" he cried triumphantly, pushing it with his finger. Laser walls dropped around him aswell, trapping him next to Obi-Wan.

"Good Job!" Obi-Wan echoed sarcastically as they both turned back to Leia, waiting for her help. But she was delving deep under her seat in the cockpit for something and didn't seem to have noticed what had happened.

Another engine sounded in the distance and Leia's movements became more frantic as she searched for something. At last she found her cloak and pulled it out, wrapping it round her shoulders. Anakin and Obi-Wan were confused.

"Leia? Whats going on?" Obi-Wan asked suspiciously as she turned back to them with an evil glint in her eyes. The tears were gone now that the strong smell of onions had worn off from the cockpit. Leia had been peeling onions on her way there to make herself cry, so that her gulible father would believe her and fall into her trap.

"You were wrong about Luke father. He wasn't the Sith...I am."

"What? No!" Anakin cried in protest. "My dreams about Luke...?"

"A mere divertion that my Master created to keep the attention away from me. Worked remarkably well actually..."

Even as she finished speaking, the Phoenix descended on the platform and Anakin's heart filled with both hope and dread.

_Padme can get us out...but she doesn't know about Leia...does she?_

Padme hopped lightly from the cockpit and stalked towards Leia, as angry and upset as she had been the last time they had met back in the tunnel.

"You evil, twisted, malicious cow!" she cried as Leia turned to regard her. "You killed your own brother! How could you!"

"I didn't kill him. The clones did!" Leia snapped back.

"Don't you argue with me, Leia!"

"No, don't you argue with me mother! I see through the lies of the Jedi. I do not fear the dark side as you do!"

"Leia, there is a reason why I fear the dark side! I have been there before, I know how you feel."

"Then you will know that I must obey my Master. He has ordered me to destroy the Jedi and keep my new Empire Jedi-free!"

"You're new Empire!" Padme echoed with more than a hint of sarcasm in her voice. She could feel anger bubbling in side her, threatening to boil over and cause her to do something stupid, but then she remembered that the Dark Side feeds on anger...she didn't even bother trying to calm herself down.

"I should have known the Jedi were plotting to take over!" Leia carried on, ignoring Padme.

"Leia, didn't you listen to anything I ever told you about the Emperor? He's twisted your mind. He's evil!"

"From my point of view the Jedi are evil!" Leia said as the two women circled each other, Leia throwing her cloak to one side, and Padme pulling of her helmet and throwing it back in the open cockpit. Anakin and Obi-Wan were haunted by images of their own duel years ago when Anakin had turned Sith. Only the thought of losing Padme had brought him back, but it seemed that not even the death of her own brother could bring Leia back now.

"Well then you are lost!" Padme snapped angrily, echoing their thoughts, but Leia just raised her eyebrows and glared at her.

"Don't make me kill you mother!" she warned and even Anakin knew that Leia truly meant it. If she wanted to kill Padme, she could. But Padme wasn't going to let that happen.

"Don't call me mother! I stopped being your mother the moment you joined the dark side."

Leia looked stunned and stepped back away from Padme for a moment, shocked at what she had just heard.

"But...I'm your daughter!"

"No Leia, you _were _my daughter, and I lovedyou _once_, but now, you are nothing more than a monster full of hatred. To me, you are now nothing more than a Sith, who I swore to destroy. Your words have proven to me that this must be so," Padme said firmly and confidently, and Anakin realised with horror that she actually meant every word she said. How could his loving angel say that to his daughter. Surely there was still hope.

As though sensing his thoughts, Obi-Wan turned to Anakin and shook his head. "Leia is truly gone Anakin. If Padme see's this, then it must be true."

"I know, but I don't want to believe it!" Anakin replied.

_I know it's true because Padme always believes the best in people until she is forced to see the worst. Now she has seen the worst in our daughter._

"She will do the right thing Anakin. Trust her," Obi-Wan sighed, and it was clear that he didn't know what Padme was going to do next.

For the first time ever, General Kenobi - the negotiator - was unable to think of a way out of their current situation.


	25. The beginning of the end

**Author Note: Here we go guys, lights...camera...action...cue the evil Sith...and the darkness drawing in...and the readers starting to read this next chapter...**

(-o-o-)

"If I am just a mere Sith to you then why don't you kill me?" Leia dared, obviously believing her mother wouldn't be strong enough to do it.

"I shall do what I must," Padme replied, drawing and igniting her saber. Leia looked at the long blue blade her mother was wielding, and her eyes were wide with shock, but then she shook her head slightly as though waking from a dream, and pulled out her own saber. The purple blade glowed menacingly against the darkened sky, and then as though this had been the cue, a large bolt of lightning cracked through the sky, lighting everything up for a few seconds before plunging everything into darkness again.

"This is the end for you my mother!" Leia called and before Padme could respond, she had leapt through the air to land infront of her.

For one awful moment, Anakin thought Padme wouldn't attack and would allow Leia to kill her in cold blood, but Padme had other ideas.

As Leia's lightsaber hummed towards her, a calm certainty filled Padme. Leia was going to kill her. Oh she'd make Leia work for it. She'd fight with everything she had. But at the same time she was positive that she would die at Leia's hands, just like poor Luke.

Her lightsaber came up in an instinctive parry. She had never sparred with her daughter before, and yet Padme somehow knew all her favourite moves. She hardly had to think to counter each of Leia's attacks. Lightsabers humming, they battled their way across the landing platform away from the ship, and the others.

It felt...familiar, like another practice session with Anakin, except for the bolts of lightning and the knowledge that this was no practice session, but would be a fight to the death.

She saw the same emotions reflected on Leia's face. But then the expression changed into a sneer.

"You're no match for the dark side!" she said as they continued to battle along a narrow passageway.

"I've heard that before Leia," Padme said. "But I never thought I'd hear it from you."

On they went, deeper into the mountains, never pausing from their relentless attacks on each other. And it was then, as they moved inside a nearby cave, that Padme suddenly realised.

_This is exactly the same as my dream, only it's not father on son, like I thought! It's mother on daughter, and it's a fight to the death!_

This sudden realisation caught Padme a little off guard and Leia tried to take advantage, but Padme was too quick and immediately wove her blade into a defensive shield against Leia's attacks again.

Leia backflipped onto a higher ledge to gain the high ground, but Padme didn't follow. She had been expecting something like that and instead swung her saber low, aiming for Leia's feet. Leia jumped up to try and miss the blade and Padme thrust out a hand, knocking Leia flying with a strong Force push.

As she fell, Leia lost a grip on her saber. Padme caught it and stared at it in surprise.

_How can Leia kill me if she doesn't have a lightsaber?_

Then Leia charged at her and before Padme could swing her own weapon Leia was on her. Her left hand gripped Padme's right wrist, holding off the deadly lightsaber. Her other hand fought to repossess her own weapon. Anger and hatred proved stronger than frustration and doubt and Leia was able to wrench her weapon away to attack once more.

Down a narrow tunnel they fought, then onto a balcony above a large pit. A small ledge led from one side of the pit to another ledge on the other and as Leia's attacks intensified, Padme was forced onto the ledge, where a single miss-step would send her plummeting into the abyss below.

(-o-)

Back on the landing platform, Obi-Wan was still struggling to find a way out of his cell. Peering over at Anakin, he saw that the clever Jedi had opened the flap in his wrist and was using the wires from his mechanical handto short circuit the power. In no time at all, the lasers had shut down and they were both free.

Running up the ledge that Padme and Leia had dissapeared down moments before, they could still hear the clashing of sabers deep in the mountain. Anakin wondered what they would find when he got there.

He also wondered if what Leia had said about Luke and the others was true. Surely she couldn't have allowed them all to die in such awfull ways...surely she couldn't have allowed them to die at all. But then Leia had imprisoned her father and attacked her mother, so she was capable of anything now. Anakin felt a cold shiver run down his spine as they neared the cave. He was almost frightened to go inside, for fear of what he might find.

(-o-o-)

Up on the ledge the fighting continued, even as the ledge narrowed and became almost impossible to move along. And still, neither woman could gain an advantage.

_But that's not really true, _Padme thought as she ducked and wove and parried. Both her and Leia felt the anguish of their need to kill the other. But Leia had turned to the dark side. It gave her an advantage Padme could not match. Unless she let go of her own despair and let the living Force move her - the Force that bound all living things together, even Padme and this new, deadly, evil Leia.

It was hard. It was, perhaps, the hardest thing she had ever tried to do. Harder than joining her husband on the dark side, harder than slaughtering all those Jedi, harder than even realising her husband had once turned against her. It was the hardest thing she would ever have to do, for in letting go of her anguish, her despain, her pain, she would have to let go of the daughter who she loved, had raised in a loving home, had always been so fond of. She would have to admit that this time, she could not save her little girl, whom she had rescued from so many scrapes before.

Padme couldn't do it.

She slipped as Leia lashed out again and her saber fell down into the pit. Padme never heard it hit the floor. Leia took advantage of the fact that Padme was now weaponless and continually slashed at her feet, her chest, her head, anywhere she could. Padme jumped back away from the deadly blade again and again, before finally backflipping onto the ledge behind her.

_Now what! I'm weaponless against a Sith!_

As though her thoughts had been answered, Anakin and Obi-Wan charged onto the opposite ledge and Leia looked back at them. Then she flipped onto Padme's ledge too, and the two men started running across the narrow bridge. Padme backed away from the purple blade that hummed dangerously close to her throat, then she felt the ground give way beneath her feet and tumbled over the edge, grasping a tiny outcrop of rock a few feet below where Leia was now standing, looking triumphant.

(-o-)

Anakin had seen Padme fall and saw her now dangling from the rocks. Rage filled him and he charged across the remainder of the bridge. Abandoning any pretense of observing even the slightest caution, he barreled into Leia with such fury that he almost knocked both of them off the ledge and into the abyss aswell. He struck at Leia with his lightsaber as if his own safety meant nothing to, lost in a red haze of rage and frustration, consumed by grief for Luke and his failure to prevent Padme's fall.

Leia was borne backwards by her father's initial rush, caught off guard by his wild assault, and pressed all the way back to the far wall of the ledge. There she struggled to keep the Jedi Master at bay, trying to open enough space between them to defend herself. Lightsabers scraped and grated against each other, and the chamber echoed with their fury.

Lunging and twisting, Leia regained the offensive and counterattacked, using both her lightsaber and her feet in a effort to try and remove Anakin's legs from underneath him. But Anakin was experienced and was able to anticipate and miss each blow without much effort.

The fight took them outside through a small doorway onto yet another ledge looking out over large jagged rocks. They fought on, into the nooks and alcoves of the rocks, into the shadowed recesses and around large boulders and stone pillars.

Twice, Leia went down, losing her footing on the smooth rocks of the ledge. Once Anakin hammered at her with such determination that he scorched the young Sith's tunic, shoulder to waist, and it was only by countering with an upthrust and by rolling quickly away and back onto her feet that Leia was able to escape. This action obviously impressed Anakin because a hint of a smile began to play at his lips. No longer was he angry, but joyful, as though he was enjoying this contest between them, like it was some sort of game like when the twins were younger and he used to play with them.

(-o-o-)

They fought their way back inside the cave, and Anakin noticed that Obi-Wan had managed to pull Padme to safety. Both jumped out of the way as Leia charged past, Anakin close on her heels.

However, Leia had another trick up her sleeve. She began to use the force to throw heavy rocks at Anakin to throw him off balance and to disrupt his flow of attacks. Padme and Obi-Wan stood to one side, unable to believe what they were seeing.

_Only a true Sith has that power._ Obi-Wan thought as Anakin was forced to duck yet another low flying rock.

The battle wore on, and for a time it was fought evenly. It seemed that Anakin had been able to do what Padme hadn't and had let go of his emotions, allowing the force to just guide him. She felt guilty that she hadn't been strong enough to do that.

However it eventually emerged that Leia was now the stronger of the two and was driven by a frenzy that surpassed even the frantic determination that fueled Anakin. Eventually, Leia began to wear Anakin down. Bit by bit, she pressed him back, carrying the attack to him, looking to catch him off guard. Anakin could sense his body weakening and he began to think about what it would mean if he, too, were to fall, like his son, at the hands of his own daughter.

_Never! _He swore furiously and sensing his opportunity slipping and his strength dissapearing, he mounted a final assault. He rushed Leia with a series of side blows designed to bring the saber horizontal. Then he feinted an attack to Leia's left and brought his own lightsaber over and down with such force that he scorched a deep mark in the rock wall.

Crying out in fury, he cut at Leia's unprotected head, a killing blow.

And missed completely.


	26. Leia's redemption

**Author Note: Oooh, another cliffhanger! Tee Hee! **

**And for those of you who were wondering, yes I do like to describe the fights in great detail because I always find that makes the story more interesting than just, 'he hit her, she ducked him, he won' etc.**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's almost the last one... boohoo.**

(-o-)

Leia, anticipating the maneuver, had stepped smoothly away. She counter attacked swiftly, striking at Anakin with enough force that she knocked him sideways and off balance. Anakin fell to the floor, his saber rolling into the abyss to join Padme's.

Leia stood over him, her saber raised above her head and then brought it down hard. A blue blade cut under it, stopping it with a shower of sparks.

Leia looked up to see Obi-Wan at the other end of the blue blade and a smile twisted on her face. She stepped away from Anakin who was too tired to even try to attack anymore.

Slowly she and Obi-Wan circled. Lightsaber held above her head, Leia readied her attack whilst Obi-Wan held a lateral stance, ready to answer.

Without announcement, Leia brought her blade straight down, then feinted to the right when Obi-Wan moved to parry.

She cut .

Obi-Wan counterparried, letting the impact direct his saber towards Leia's throat...

But Leia met the attack and stepped back.

The first blows traded without injury, or even much effort by either one. Again they circled.

Then again Leia attacked , much more aggresively. She advanced in a flurry of lunges, each met by the blue blade. Obi-Wan retreated back a step at every slash, swiveling once to bring his blade up viciously, but Leia batted it away, pushing Obi-Wan back again. Then Obi-Wan momentarily lost his footing on a slippery rock and fell to his knees.

_Impressive! _He thought to himself as Leia advanced and he had to bring his saber up to block a head strike. The two sabers clashed and the two people stared into each other's eyes. There was no hint of the bond that had once joined them as master and apprentice.

_Impressive! _Obi-Wan thought again as he continued to force the blade slowly away from his face. _She has learnt alot and her speed has increased. It's a pity I have to kill such a young and promising warrior. She had resisted the flow of three attacks and still feels full of energy like she's new, not spent out like Anakin or Padme. No wonder the Emperor was so desperate to have her as his apprentice._

Now Obi-Wan stood again, having pushed the blade far enough away to give him the room he needed. He glanced over at Anakin who was still lying on the floor, breathing heavily, his age finally catching up with him. Padme was crouched over him, trying to help him to his feet, but each time he stood, he collapsed down onto the floor again.

And then Obi-Wan was dragged back into the fight by another swipe from Leia's blade. The two sabers had broken apart at last and she had swung at him when he wasn't paying attention.

_Crafty! _Obi-Wan smiled inwardly, remembering how Anakin used to use such moves. He responded by swinging his blade down low, aiming for her ankles, but she jumped back effortlessly and aimed for his head again.

Obi-Wan met the blow and the two moved in close enough to be able to hear each other's words.

"Face it old man, you're finished!" Leia growled over the crackle of the connecting sabers.

"Old man!" Obi-Wan echoed sarcastically. "I believe you're youthfull luck is about to run out Skywalker!"

_Skywalker! _He had never called any of them that before, but somehow he found Leia was too nice a name for someone like theevil villainstanding infront of him now.

"I don't need any luck!" she replied with a sly grin. "But you do!"

And with that she tore one hand away from her handle and thrust it into Obi-Wan's face. Her hand never touched him, but Obi-Wan was sent flying backwards into the cave wall. There was a violent shudder, and then a miniature landslide as rocks crumbled and fell on him, half burying him and trapping him underneath them. Leia grinned triumphantly, walking over to him, intending to finish him once and for all, but once again her blade was interputed by another blue blade. Looking to see who it was this time, Leia was surprised to see Padme holding Obi-Wan's saber. It seemed that Padme wasn't as spent as the others had thought, and she was going to do everything in her power to ensure that either she stopped Leia, or she'd die trying.

"It's over mother!" Leiahissed, backing away out of the door. Padme followed slowly and carefully, for she sensed a trap. Sure enough Leia swiped at her as she stepped through the door. Padme jumped back and the blade narrowly missed. Then Leia took a running leap and landed on a hovering platform a few feet out. The platform wobbled, but held her weight. She leaned to one side, steering the platform away to one side, away from the cliff and Padme.

Padme wouldn't allow this.

Spotting another platform a little further out, she took a deep breath then leapt for it. For one awful moment she thought she had missed.

Then her feet hit firm ground and she looked down to see the platform wobbling underneath her. Sighing with relief she set off after Leia.

"I have failed you Leia," Padme called after her, "I was never able to teach you to think."

Leia looked back angrily and slowed the platform down so that Padme drew nearer. They were now flying overa large canyon that was at least three hundred feet deep.

"You never cared about me, otherwise you would have seen my pain!" she responded and the words stabbed at Padme, even though she knew that Leia was consumed by the Sith and didn't know what she was saying. She felt the dark side grow stronger, feeding on her despair.

And then as Leia came close enough to swing her lightsaber once more, the Jedi in Padme rose up and at last she did the thing she hadn't thought she could do.

She let go.

Calm, centered, free - for the moment - of sorrow and despair, resting in the living Force as she had been trained to do. Padme Skywalker looked at her daughter and did the unexpected. She made a soaring leap into the air and landed on the high ledge of a mountain some distance away.

"It's over Leia. I have the high ground!" she called down as Leia's platform came to a halt underneath the ledge.

"You underestimate my power!" she called up, but Padme shook her head.

"Don't try it!" she warned, but Leia wasn't about to take advice from the enemy. She jumped with all her might, reaching out for the ledge, hoping to land ontop of it. Instead she fell short a few feet and had to scrabble and grip tight to the very edge.

Now the tables had turned and it was Leia who was hanging, with Padme watching down over her. And she was going to take advantage of this.

"I loved you Leia! I raised you to want to destroy the Sith, not join them! Your father brought balance to the Force, but you have dragged it into darkness again!"

Leia scrabbled at the rock, trying to find a decent foothold. Her hands were slipping and in her desperation to hang on, she had made her fingertips bleed. The rough rock grated and shredded her skin, but she didn't care. She was just trying to hang on.

"I hate you!" she cried at Padme who stood watching, with tears streaming down her face.

"You were my daughter Leia! I loved you!" Padme yelled and her voice echoed through the canyon below. Even Anakin and Obi-Wan heard it back at the landing platform. They had dragged themselves back to their ships and were now taking off in hot pursuit of the other two, desperate to know the outcome. Anakin was too tired to fly, so he just commanded his droid.

(-o-)

A few moments later they were landing the ships on the ground, hundreds of feet below the ledge. Leia was now hanging by one arm, having lost her grip with the other. She could feel her fingers slowly sliding towards the edge and tears welled in her eyes as she realised this was the end. Padme wouldn't help her, because she had turned her back on her and was now making her way down a ledge to the side, trying to find her way off the cliff.

Something clicked in Leia's head as her mother dissapeared from sight and she suddenly realised how foolish she had been. If her mother truly had hated her, she wouldn't have hesitated in killing her there and then. It would have been easy enough to do.But Padme hadn't. She had left Leia hanging, hoping the fall would do what she could not.

_She still loves me! _Leia thought to herself and then she was hit with a barrage of emotions. Grief, fear, love, remorse, all the things she hadn't been able to feel until now. She was truly sorry for what she had done and knew that she deserved what was coming to her. Closing her eyes she called out to her mother one last time.

"I love you mother! I'm so sorry!"

And then her fingers slipped.


	27. Alls well in the Skywalker houshold

**Author Note: Well this is it folks...the last chapter. Boo hoo. Thanks so much to all of you who've dedicated a little of your time to reading this and sending your marvelous reviews, especially LadyKelina, Linwe-Amari and anakinluver92. I can't thank you all enough. So enjoy...**

**Oh and I've included a cast list of everyone I thought would be good to play each character. They were just ideas, but I hunted high and low for ages before coming up with suitable matches. This does, however, mean that some of the original actors have been replaced by younger (or older) ones who seem more suitable to the character, so enjoy (as always!)**

(-o-)

Opening her eyes, she saw two hands grasped tightly round her wrist.

Padme smiled down at her as she began to pull Leia back over the ledge. When Leia was safely back on solid ground, she looked at Padme questioningly.

"Why?" was all she could bring herself to say.

"I couldn't do it. I felt the change in the force and knew that you had come back. When you said that you loved me, I truly knew it was you."

"I...I..." Leia was speachless, but Padme understood. She pulled her into a tight hug and the two cried into each other's shoulders, Leia promising never to do anything like that again and Padme promising never to ignore her again.

"One question though. What truly happened to the others?" Padme asked as she helped Leia down the tiny ledge.

"I reversed order sixty six. The clones are with the Jedi now, not against them. After all, thats what made them turn in the first place. They were only following the orders that no-one had reversed. So I ordered the others to be rescued and they should now be on their way to the hospital on Onderon. I also sent a message to King Theodus, explaining what had happened, so they will be in good hands...all of them."

"But what about Luke?"

"Him too."

"He's alive?" Padme stumbled with shock and Leia had to grab her sleeve to stop her tumbling over the edge.

"Yes. He did get shot in the side, but he didn't die. Just passed out after he was stunned by one of the clones."

(-o-)

"Hey Luke," Anakin said brightly as Luke finally woke up in a hospital bed, later that day. He had a huge bandage round his waist that was covering the wound in his side, but apart from that he seemed unhurt.

"Hi Dad, how long have you been here?" Luke asked sleepily as Anakin helped him sit up in bed.

"Well, your mother and I have been taking it in turns to sit by your bedside each hour, so I'de say about five hours in total. Mum's with the medical droid at the moment, getting her hands dressed. Apparently, aggressive negotiations give her terrible blisters!"

Luke chuckled at this and so did Anakin after a few moments. Then Anakin turned serious again.

"So, I know what everyone's given you as get well gifts," he said casually and Luke cocked his head inquisitively.

"How?" he asked, curiously. Had his father suddenly developed some mysterious mind reading powers? But then a broad grin spread over Anakin's face.

"I felt your presents!" he said before collapsing into a fit of hysterics. Luke didn't get it at first, but he was soon in fits of laughter too.

"Oh no, he's not doing more of his stupid force jokes is he?" Padme smiled as she walked in. "Earlier on, I was trying to eat some Onderonion noodles with chop sticks and I kept dropping them so he told me to 'use the forks'!"

"Thats a good one!" Luke howled, practically crying with laughter and even Padme couldn't help but laugh. It was so good to see everyone in such a good mood again. The atmosphere was completely the opposite to twelve hours ago.

"So what happened after I passed out?" Luke asked at last, wiping a tear from his eye. Anakin and Padme looked at each other and nodded. They had wanted to wait a while before telling him, incase it was still to early, but now seemed as good a time as any. So they took it in turns to fill him in on the events of the past twelve hours, both telling their versions of it and correcting each other when something was said wrong. By the end of it, Luke looked thouroughly dissapointed.

"I wish I'de been there. That fight between you and Leia sounds awesome. I wish I could have watched it. I've never seen you fight before," he said to Padme.

"Yes you have. Remember in tha temple with Ronteza?"

"Oh yeah. Where are the Princes by the way?" Luke asked, looking around as if expecting to see them.

"They're with their father in another room, but both are fine. Just a bit wet. Luckily Lomas managed to yank the wire up in time, otherwise it might have been a different story."

"And Scotty? Serena? Han and Chewie?" Luke was eager to know about all his friends.

"Scotty and Serena were let out earlier today, although you have to be nice to both of them because they now have terrible colds...and Han and Chewie are fine, although Han did manage to break his wrist when trying to jam the walls with a large pole. Chewie won't let him out of his sight incase anything happens to him. Apparently he now owes Han a life debt because Han was the one who got them out of the trash compactor," Anakin answered, slightly amused at Han's version of events.

"Apparently he was sitting ontop of the rubbish pile and the idea hit hit on the head - literally. A bit of rope had been dislodged from the door and he used it to climb up then pull Chewie up."

"That was lucky," Luke said.

"Actually, the clones had thrown it down to him and pulled them both up," Anakin revealed and Luke gave an evil little smile. Now he had something to teaseHan about!Then he looked at Padme who was staring out of the window at something down below.

"Mum?"

"Huh?" she turned round, slightly startled, but then smiled when she saw his worried face. "I'm just watching the four lovebirds down there," she motioned down to the gardens below. Anakin helped Luke over to the window and they saw what she meant.

Scotty and Serena were walking hand in hand down the garden, chatting to each other, and close behind them were...

"Han? Leia? Oh my god!" Luke was in shock. He had seen Leia and Han following the other two, but Leia's head was resting on Han's shoulder and he had his arm wrapped around her waist.

"I thought they hated each other!"

"So did we all,"Padme sighed.

"Yeah, there's a double wedding in a few weeks time. You've been asked to be Han and Scotty's best man," Anakin smiled, resting a proud hand on his son's shoulder.

Finally everything was turning around, and things seemed to be going perfectly for once. Anakin knew it couldn't last, but he was determined to make the most of it while he could. Wrapping another arm around Padme, the three of them watched the others with contented smiles on their faces. It seemed like they were all going to be one big happy family again...with a couple of extras!

The End

**Coming soon to a computer screen near you...**

**The Great Escape - Star Wars style (the name says everything!)**

**Dream Come True (An AU story in Luke's POV)**

**Incognito (A Casualty Fan Fic)**

**And many more when I've written them! (If I ever get time to write them!)**


	28. Cast list

**Cast List**

**I know that some of the characters weren't really mentioned, but I just included them anyway. If you don't know who the people from Casualty are, just go onthe websiteand they should be there! Happy Imagining!**

**Obi-Wan Kenobi (Jedi Master) **- Ewan Mcgregor

**Anakin Skywalker (Jedi Master) **- Hayden Christensen

**Padme Amidala Naberrie Skywalker (Jedi Master) **- Natalie Portman

**Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight) **- Dominic Monaghan (Merry in Lord of the Rings)

**Leia Skywalker (Jedi Padawan) **- Rebekah Gibbs (Nina in Casualty)

**Han Solo (Rebel) **- James Redmond (Abs in Casualty)

**Scotty Lars (Jedi Knight, Anakin and Padme's nephew) **- Orlando Bloom

**Jobal Naberrie (Padme and Sola's mother) **- Carrie Fisher (The original Leia!)

**Ruwee Naberrie (Padme and Sola's father) **- Mark Hamill (The original Luke!)

**Sola Naberrie (Padme's sister) **- Liz May Brice (Pat Kerrigan in Bad Girls (Also in Resident Evil))

**Ryoo Naberrie (Anakin and Padme's niece and Sola's daughter) **- Rachel Stevens (Singer, duh!)

**Pooja Naberrie (Anakin and Padme's niece and Sola's daughter) **- Leanne Wilson (Claire in Casualty)

**Serena Hart (Padme's former Padawan) **- Rosamund Pike (Miranda in Die Another Day)

**Sharivari Unlet (Jedi Master) **- Nathaniel Parker (Inspector Linley)

**Lomitas Lapur (Jedi Master) **- Clive Owen (King Arthur)

**Johhny Darko (Jedi Master) **- Brad Pitt

**Ronteza Alberto (Prince of Onderon and Padme's distant cousin) **- Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn in Lord of the Rings)

**Lomas Alberto (Prince of Onderon and Padme's distant cousin) **- Sean Bean (Boromir in Lord of the Rings)

**Emperor Palpatine's clones **- Ian Mcdiarmid

**Clones** - Temuera Morrison

**King Theodus Alberto (King of Onderon and Father of Ronteza and Lomas)**- John Cleese (Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers)

**Queen Vanessa Alberto (Wife of King Theodus and Mother of Ronteza and Lomas) **- Julie Andrews (Marry Poppins, Queen Clarice in Princess Diaries)


End file.
